Macrocnemus

Macrocnemus
Temporal range: Middle Triassic, 245–228 Ma
Fossil of Macrocnemus bassanii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Order: Protorosauria
Genus: Macrocnemus
Nopcsa, 1931
Species
  • M. basanii Nopsca, 1931 (type)
  • M. fuyuanensis Li et al., 2007

Macrocnemus is an extinct genus of archosauromorph reptile from the Middle Triassic of Europe and China.

Description

The name is from the Greek for "long tibia". Two species have been named, the type species M. bassanii and the species M. fuyuanensis.[1] The reptile was around 20-25 cm long. It may have eaten limulid eggs and hunted in packs.

Macrocnemus bassanii fossil
Life restoration of Macrocnemus basanii

References

  1. Jiang, D.-Y.; Rieppel, O.; Fraser, N.C.; Motani, R.; Haoa, W.-C.; Tintorie, A.; Suna, Y.-L.; Suna, Z.-Y. (2011). "New information on the protorosaurian reptile Macrocnemus fuyuanensis Li et al., 2007, from the Middle/Upper Triassic of Yunnan, China". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31 (6): 1230–1237. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.610853.
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