Syntarsus Raath, 1969

Included taxa. Syntarsus kayentakatae Rowe, 1989; Syntarsus rhodesiensis Raath, 1969.

Temporal range. ?Hettangian-Pliensbachian.

Occurrence. Kayenta Formation, Arizona, USA; Forest Sandstone, Matabeleland, Zimbabwe; Upper Elliot Formation, Cape Province, South Africa.

Diagnosis. Presence of a postnasal fenestra between nasal, prefrontal, and frontal.

Remarks. Syntarsus (Text-fig. 5b) is among the best-represented taxa of theropod dinosaur. Both species are known from more than 15 specimens (Rowe and Gauthier 1990), but, unfortunately, only the holotypes of the species have been described in detail so far (Raath 1969; Rowe 1989). Since its original description, Syntarsus has been regarded as a close relative of the Triassic North American theropod Coelophysis (e.g. Raath 1969; Colbert 1989), and has sometimes even been synonymized with the latter genus (Paul 1988 «, 1993). However, according to Colbert (1989), Coelophysis lacks the postnasal fenestra, a character that is diagnostic for Syntarsus. Given this morphological disparity, the stratigraphical difference, and the fact that Coelophysis must be regarded as a metataxon (Padian 1986), it seems best to retain them as different genera.