PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis

Reptilia - Coelophysidae

Taxonomy

Syntarsus rhodesiensis was named by Raath (1969). Its type specimen is QG/1, a partial skeleton, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Kwengula stream, Southcote Farm, which is in a Hettangian/Sinemurian terrestrial sandstone in the Forest Sandstone Formation of Zimbabwe.

It was recombined as Coelophysis rhodesiensis by Paul (1988), Bristowe and Raath (2004), Yates (2005), Gay (2005), Ezcurra (2006), Spielmann et al. (2007), Rinehart et al. (2007), Ezcurra and Novas (2007), Ezcurra (2007), Nesbitt et al. (2007), Ezcurra and Cuny (2007), Langer et al. (2010), Ezcurra and Brusatte (2011), Novas et al. (2011), Carrano et al. (2012), Xing et al. (2014), Delsate and Ezcurra (2014), Nesbitt and Ezcurra (2015), Martínez et al. (2016), Griffin and Nesbitt (2016), Rauhut and Pol (2017), Sciscio et al. (2017), Martinez and Apaldetti (2017), Dal Sasso et al. (2018), Zahner and Brinkmann (2019); it was recombined as Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis by Irmis (2004), Weems (2006), Milner et al. (2006), Lucas et al. (2006), Smith and Merrill (2006), Jasinski (2011), Petti et al. (2011), Ezcurra (2017), Veiga et al. (2019), Senter and Sullivan (2019), Abrahams et al. (2020), Bordy (2021), Sciscio et al. (2021), Abrahams et al. (2023).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1969	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Raath pp. 1-2 figs. 1-6, Pl. 1-5
1972	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Bond p. 152
1977	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Raath p. 1
1979	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Cruickshank p. 170
1980	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Molnar p. 134 fig. 3
1981	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Osmolska p. 90
1984	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Welles p. 176
1986	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Gauthier p. 9
1988	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Paul p. 262
1989	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Rowe p. 125
1990	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Raath pp. 91-92
1990	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Raath et al. p. 94
1990	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Rowe and Gauthier p. 152
1993	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Paul p. 402
1997	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Erickson p. 5
1997	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Norell and Makovicky p. 11
1997	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Rowe et al. p. 108
1997	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Ryan and Vickaryous p. 171
2001	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Hurum p. 39
2003	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Rauhut p. 19
2004	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Bristowe and Raath p. 39
2004	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Carrano and Sampson p. 553 fig. 4
2004	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Irmis p. 13
2004	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Tykoski and Rowe p. 48
2005	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Gay p. 278
2005	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Yates p. 107
2006	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Ezcurra p. 651
2006	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Langer and Benton p. 318 fig. 4
2006	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Lucas et al. p. 90
2006	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Milner et al. p. 326
2006	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Smith and Merrill pp. 595-597
2006	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Weems p. 371
2007	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Ezcurra p. 186
2007	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Ezcurra and Cuny p. 78 fig. 6
2007	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Ezcurra and Novas p. 36
2007	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Nesbitt et al. p. 216
2007	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Rinehart et al. p. 175
2007	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Sampson and Witmer p. 38
2007	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Spielmann et al. p. 385
2009	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Bittencourt and Kellner p. 8
2009	Coelophysis rodhesiensis Martínez and Alcober p. 5
2010	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Langer et al. p. 92
2011	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Ezcurra and Brusatte p. 764
2011	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Jasinski p. 199
2011	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Novas et al. p. 340
2011	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Petti et al. p. 38
2012	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Carrano et al. p. 227
2012	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Paulina Carabajal and Currie p. 86
2013	Syntarsus rhodensis Ibiricu et al. p. 8
2014	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Delsate and Ezcurra p. 175
2014	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Xing et al. p. 1653
2015	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Nesbitt and Ezcurra p. 516
2016	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Griffin and Nesbitt p. 2
2016	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Martill et al. p. 21
2016	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Martínez et al. p. 63
2017	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Ezcurra p. 508
2017	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Martinez and Apaldetti p. 492
2017	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Rauhut and Pol p. 545
2017	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Sciscio et al. p. 22
2018	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Dal Sasso et al. p. 48
2019	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Senter and Sullivan p. 2
2019	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Veiga et al. p. 13
2019	Coelophysis rhodesiensis Zahner and Brinkmann p. 1148
2020	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Abrahams et al.
2020	Syntarsus rhodesiensis Dalla Vecchia p. 609
2021	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Bordy p. 7
2021	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Sciscio et al. p. 1053
2023	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Abrahams et al. p. 10

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia

Rank	Name	Author
subclass	Eureptilia	()
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
—	Archosauromorpha	(Huene 1946)
—	Crocopoda
—	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
—	Eucrocopoda
—	Archosauria	()
informal	Avemetatarsalia
—	Ornithodira
—	Dinosauromorpha
—	Dinosauriformes
—	Dinosauria	()
—	Theropoda	()
—	Neotheropoda
superfamily	Coelophysoidea
family	Coelophysidae
genus	Megapnosaurus	Ivie et al. 2001
species	rhodesiensis	()

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

†Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Raath 1969

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Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
G. S. Paul 1993	Gracile skull and skeleton. Post temporal fenestra absent, teeth small, row of 19-20 maxillary teeth ends beneath antorbital fenestra, 25 dentary teeth. Neck relatively short. Pubis shorter than femur, no distal pubic expansions, distal ischial expansion relatively small, hindlimbs relatively long.
M. T. Carrano et al. 2012	Coelophysoid theropod with: (1) blunt, squared anterior margin of antorbital fossa; (2) base of lacrimal vertical ramus width < 30% its height; and (3) maxillary and dentary tooth rows end posteriorly at anterior rim of lacrimal (all from Bristowe & Raath 2004).
M. D. Ezcurra 2017	not provided

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

hydroxyapatiteo

Entire body:

yeso

Adult length:

10 to < 100o

Adult width:

1.0 to < 10o

Adult height:

1.0 to < 10o

Architecture:

compact or denseo

Ontogeny:

accretion, modification of partso

Grouping:

solitaryo

Environment:

terrestrialo

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

ground dwellingo

Diet:

carnivoreo

Reproduction:

oviparouso

Dispersal:

direct/internalo

Dispersal 2:

mobileo

Created:

2004-12-14 12:50:08

Modified:

2004-12-14 14:50:08

Source: o = order

Reference: Marsh 1875

Age range: base of the Late/Upper Triassic to the top of the Sinemurian or 237.00000 to 192.90000 Ma

Collections (6 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Late/Upper Triassic	237.0 - 201.4	Zimbabwe (Matabeleland North)	Syntarsus rhodesiensis (34779)
Hettangian - Sinemurian	201.4 - 192.9	Zimbabwe (Mashonaland North)	Syntarsus rhodesiensis (50823)
Hettangian - Sinemurian	201.4 - 192.9	Zimbabwe (Matabeleland North)	Coelurosauria indet. (type locality: 48392) Syntarsus rhodesiensis (22663 50824)
Hettangian - Sinemurian	201.4 - 192.9	South Africa (Free State)	Syntarsus rhodesiensis (45531)