Lophostropheus

Lophostropheus (pron.:" LOAF-oh-STRO-fee-us") is an extinct genus of coelophysoid theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 200 million years ago during the boundary between the Late Triassic Period and the Early Jurassic Period, in what is now Normandy, France. Lophostropheus is one of the few dinosaurs that may have survived the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. Lophostropheus was a small to medium-sized, moderately-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, that could grow up to 3 m (9.8 ft) long. Over the years it had been incorrectly classified as Halticosaurus and Liliensternus, but was later recognized as a new genus and was reassigned to Lophostropheus in 2007.

The composite term Lophostropheus is derived from the Greek words "lophos" (λόφος) meaning "crest" and the word "strophe" (στροφή) meaning "vertebrae"; thus, "crest vertebrae". This naming is a reference to the prominent dorsal and ventral laminae observed in the cranial cervical vertebrae. The specific name, "airelensis" is a reference to the locality where the specimen was discovered, the Airel Quarry. Lophostropheus was described and named by Argentine paleontologist Martin Ezcurra (Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales) and French paleontologist Gilles Cuny of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in 2007, and the type species is Lophostropheus airelensis.