Euparkeria (; meaning "Parker's good animal", named in honor of
W.K. Parker) is an extinct
genus of
archosauriform from the
Middle Triassic of
South Africa. It was a small reptile that lived between 245-230 million years ago, and was close to the ancestry of
Archosauria, the group that includes
dinosaurs,
pterosaurs, and modern birds and crocodilians.
Euparkeria had hind limbs that were slightly longer than its forelimbs, which has been taken as evidence that it may have been able to rear up on its hind legs as a
facultative biped. Although
Euparkeria is close to the ancestry of fully bipedal archosaurs such as early dinosaurs, it probably developed bipedalism independently.
Euparkeria was not as well adapted to bipedal locomotion as dinosaurs and its normal movement was probably more analogous to a crocodilian
high walk.