Procompsognathus ( /ˌproʊkɒmpˈsɒɡnəθəs/) is a genus of small theropod dinosaur that lived during the late Triassic period (mid Norian stage), about 210 million years ago. Procompsognathus was named by Eberhard Fraas in 1913. He named the type species, P. triassicus, on the basis of a poorly-preserved skeleton found in Württemberg, Germany.

 The name is derived from Compsognathus meaning 'elegant jaw' (Greek kompsos/κομψος meaning "elegant", "refined" or "dainty" and gnathos/γναθος meaning "jaw"), which was a later (Jurassic) dinosaur. The prefix προ/pro implies "before" or "ancestor of", although this direct lineage is not supported by subsequent research.

 Procompsognathus may have been about 1 meter long (3.3 ft). A biped, it had long hind legs, short arms, large clawed hands, a long slender snout with many small teeth, and a stiff tail. It lived in a relatively dry, inland environment and may have eaten insects, lizards, and other small prey.

  While it is undoubtedly a small, bipedal carnivore, the extremely poor preservation of the only known Procompsognathus fossil makes its exact identity difficult to determine. It has historically been considered a theropod dinosaur, though some, such as Allen (2004), have found Procompsognathus to be a primitive, non-dinosaurian ornithodiran. Sereno and Wild (1992) stated that the holotype specimen consisted of fossils from two separate animals. They referred the skull to the primitive crocodylomorph Saltoposuchus, and the remainder of the skeleton to a coelophysoid related to Segisaurus. Rauhut and Hungerbuhler (2000) noted features of the vertebrae which suggest that Procompsognathus may be a coelophysid or ceratosaur, and Carrano et al. (2005), in their re-study of the related genus Segisaurus, found both Segisaurus and Procompsognathus to belong to the Coelophysidae within Dinosauria.

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Tags: Вымершие рептилии, Триас, авеметатарзалии, архозавроморфы, архозавры, диапсиды, динозавроморфы, динозавры, тероподы, целофизиды, ящеротазовые

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