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
Habitat
Its sandstone formed in a dry landscape of sand dunes in Scotland. Other reptiles included beaked rhynchosaurs, armored aetosaurs and small lizard-like animals.
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.
Field gallery
More views of Saltopus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
The evidence
The science behind Saltopus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- A single partial skeleton survives mostly as hollows left by bones in sandstone.
- The hind legs are longer than the arms, with slender lower legs and closely packed foot bones.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing head and neck are inferred from comparisons with other early dinosaur relatives.
Still unknown
- Whether it belongs inside the dinosaurs or just outside them.
- The shape of its head and its teeth.
- Its skin covering and color.
Discovery timeline
- 1910Named itHuene
- 2010RedescriptionBenton & Walker
- 2017Family treeBaron, Norman & Barrett
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Saltopus
Named it
Named Saltopus from a small partial skeleton and interpreted its long hind legs as adaptations for hopping.
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.
No link available
Redescription
Studied casts and scans of the skeleton and placed Saltopus among close relatives of dinosaurs rather than within the dinosaurs themselves.
Saltopus, a dinosauriform from the Upper Triassic of Scotland. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 101: 285-299
Read the paper : Saltopus, a dinosauriform from the Upper Triassic of Scotland (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Included Saltopus in a broad comparison of early dinosaur relatives while proposing a different arrangement of the main dinosaur groups.
A new hypothesis of dinosaur relationships and early dinosaur evolution. Nature 543: 501-506
Read the paper : A new hypothesis of dinosaur relationships and early dinosaur evolution (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Saurischia
Sources: Wikidata