NAME

Meaning - Procompsognathus means “before Compsognathus” (which means pretty jaw)
Pronounced - pro-komp-SOG-na-thus
Named By - Eberhard Fraas
When Named - 1913
DIET

Carnivore (meat-eater) - it ate tiny animals like insects, small mammals, and other reptiles.
SIZE

Length - under 3.8 feet (1.2 m) long
Height - 10 inches (26 cm) tall at the hips
Weight - 2.2 pounds (1 kg)
WHEN IT LIVED

The Triassic period, about 222 to 219 million years ago.
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in Germany, Europe.
FOSSILS

Fragmentary remains have been found.
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
  • Family Coelophysoidea - early theropods with a kink in the upper snout, towards the tip
  • Genus Procompsognathus
  • Species P. triassicus (type species named by E. Fraas, 1913)
INTERESTING FACTS

Procompsognathus was one of the tiniest dinosaurs, and one of the earliest.
LINKS

A printout on Procompsognathus to color.