Procompsognathus

What it was like

Procompsognathus was a small, lightly built theropod that ran on two legs. It grew to about 1 meter (3.3 feet) long, with a long tail that balanced a slender body built for speed. As a member of Coelophysidae, it was probably a swift hunter of small prey such as insects and other small animals, gripping its catch with narrow, pointed teeth.

Its fossil remains are incomplete, so many details of its skull and limbs are still uncertain.

Its world

Procompsognathus lived in what is now Germany during the Late Triassic, between about 215 and 211 million years ago. Its bones come from the Löwenstein Formation, a single find that gives paleontologists their only look at the animal.

It shared its habitat with the plant-eating Plateosaurus and Efraasia, the predator Liliensternus, and the little-known Tuebingosaurus.

How it was found

Fraas named Procompsognathus in 1913, giving it the type species Procompsognathus triassicus. It belongs to Coelophysidae, a family of early theropods that also includes Coelophysis and Megapnosaurus. With only a single find known, much about Procompsognathus remains uncertain, including exactly how it relates to its close relatives.