Outline: a typical early dinosaur
Saltopus
"hopping foot"
- Lived
- 237 to 206 million years ago, Late Triassic
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Early dinosaurs
- Found in
- United Kingdom
- Named by
- Huene 1910
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
220 million years ago
Field notes
About Saltopus
What it was like
Saltopus was a tiny, two-legged animal, about the size of a cat, known from a single poorly preserved skeleton. Its bones survive mostly as hollows in sandstone.
Scientists disagree about what it was. It may have been an early dinosaur, or a close relative of the dinosaurs that lived just outside the group.
Its world
It lived in the Late Triassic in what is now Scotland. Its fossil comes from the Lossiemouth Sandstone, a formation of old desert dunes that has also produced other small reptiles.
How it was found
Huene named Saltopus in 1910.
Close relatives
Other members of Saurischia
Sources: WikidataNamed in: F. v. Huene. 1910. Ein primitiver Dinosaurier aus der mittleren Trias von Elgin [A primitive dinosaur from the Middle Trias of Elgin]. Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen (n.s.) 8(6):317-322