Smok (archosaur)

Smok Temporal range: Late Triassic, 205–200 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Reconstructed skeleton, University of Warsaw
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauria
Genus:	†Smok Niedźwiedzki, Sulej & Dzik, 2012
Species:	†S. wawelski
Binomial name
Smok wawelski Niedźwiedzki, Sulej & Dzik, 2012

Smok (meaning "dragon" in Polish) is an extinct genus of large carnivorous archosaur. It lived during the latest Triassic period (latest Norian to early Rhaetian stage, between 205–200 Ma). Its remains have been found in Lisowice, southern Poland. The type species is Smok wawelski (after the Wawel Dragon) and was named in 2012. It is larger than any other known predatory archosaur from the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic of central Europe. The relation of Smok to other archosaurs has not yet been thoroughly studied; it may be a rauisuchid, prestosuchid or ornithosuchid crurotarsan (part of the crocodile line of archosaurs) or a theropod dinosaur (part of the bird line of archosaurs).

At an estimated 5 to 6 metres (16 to 20 ft) in length, Smok was the largest carnivorous archosaur in central Europe at the time. It was larger than any other known theropod dinosaur or pseudosuchian living in central Europe during either the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic. The skull is 50 to 60 centimetres (20 to 24 in) long.

Several features indicate that Smok is an archosaur, including serrated teeth, a contact between the jugal and quadratojugal bones at the back of the skull, a hole in front of the eye socket called the antorbital fenestra, maxillae bones in the upper jaw that connect along their palatal processes, and a rounded projection on the upper part of the femur bone.