Compsosaurus (meaning "elegant lizard"Phytosauria Translation and Pronunciation Guide from Dinosauria.com) is an extinct genus of phytosaur, a crocodile-like reptile that lived during the Triassic. Its fossils have been found in North Carolina. The type species, Compsosaurus priscus, was named by American paleontologist Joseph Leidy in 1856,Leidy. J. (1856). Notice of some remains of extinct vertebrated animals. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 163-165 although other sources say 1857.Compsosaurus at GBIF.orgRees, T. (compiler) (2020). The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera. Available from http://www.irmng.org at VLIZ. Accessed 2020-03-24GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2020-07-15. Compsosaurus may have been the same animal as the related Belodon.
Only four teeth are known, discovered in the Carnian-Rhaetian-aged coal fields of Chatham County, North Carolina (probably Red Sandstone Formation) and the New Oxford Formation of Pennsylvania.Compsosaurus at Paleofile.org
References