Elaphrosaurus (
pron.:) is a
genus of
ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 154 to 150
million years ago during the later part of the
Jurassic Period in what is now
Tanzania in
Africa.
Elaphrosaurus was a medium-sized, but lightly built,
bipedal,
carnivore, that could grow up to long. Morphologically, this dinosaur is significant in two ways. First, it has a relatively long trunk but is very shallow-chested for a theropod of its size. Second, it has very short hindlimbs when compared to its relatively long trunk. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that this genus is likely a
ceratosaur, and earlier suggestions that it is a late surviving
coelophysoid have been examined but generally dismissed.