Megapnosaurus

Opening paleo exhibit: Megapnosaurus

Megapnosaurus was a genus of coelophysid theropod dinosaurs, that lived in what is now Southern Africa 199-188 millions of years ago, from the hettangian to pliensbachian stage of early jurassic. Originally named Syntarsus, the name was changed to Megapnosaurus as the name Syntarsus was preoccupied by a beetle. M. rhodesiensis is probably the only species in the genus, as "M". kayentakatae is probably its own separate genus. Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis means "Big dead lizard from Rhodesia".

Megapnosaurus had a typical build similar to other coelophysids, it had a slender body, a long neck, legs and tail. Megapnosaurus probably hunted small ornithopods like Lesothosaurus, prosauropods like Ignavusaurus and other smaller animals.

Megapnosaurus could grow up to 3 meters in lenght, 80 centimeters in height and weighted 32 kilograms.

Often considered a species of Coelophysis or Megapnosaurus, "Syntarsus" may have actually been a separate genus. Ezcurra et al. (2021) found that "Syntarsus" kayentakatae was not closely related to Coelophysis and Megapnosaurus.

Paleo exhibit: Megapnosaurus

Next weeks exhibit: Eustreptospondylus