Dinosaurs A to Z
Compsognathidae

Aristosuchus pusillus

"bravest, best, noblest"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Aristosuchus 2 m (6.6 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Aristosuchus
Length
2 m (6.6 ft)
Period
Cretaceous (145–66 Mya)
Place
United Kingdom · Egypt
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Compsognathidae
Aristosuchus reconstruction by FunkMonk
Reconstruction · FunkMonk (CC-BY)

Aristosuchus (from the Ancient Greek ἄριστος, meaning “bravest, best, noblest”, and σουχος, the Ancient Greek corruption of the name of the Egyptian crocodile-headed god Sobek) is a genus of small coelurosaurian dinosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period (Barremian stage, sometime between 130 and 123 million years ago) of what is now England, UK. The type and only species is Aristosuchus pusillus, originally referred to the carnosaurian genus Poekilopleuron.

What we know

  • Named by (Owen, 1876).
  • Body length estimated at about 2 m.
  • Fossils found in United Kingdom and Egypt.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Aristosuchus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.