Saltopus
| Saltopus | ||||||||||||
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Triassic ( Norium ) | ||||||||||||
| 228 to 208.5 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Saltopus | ||||||||||||
| von Huene , 1910 | ||||||||||||
Saltopus was a diapsid reptile whose sparse bone material wasdiscoveredin Scotland and dated to the Upper Triassic ( Norium ). Its systematics is still uncertain, the animal is classified as a noun dubium . The only known species of this genus is Saltopus elginensis .
Saltopus appears relatively frequently in literature as a small dinosaur , which belies the fact that it is very little known.
It may actually be an early, very primitive theropod dinosaur, but it could also be an ornithosuchid or a lagosuchid . Only further discoveries can bring clarity.
Saltopus was about 60 cm long, walked on two legs on long hind legs and ate carnivorous food .
The only find so far ( holotype , specimen number BMNH R3915) was recovered from the layers of the Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation in Scotland. It consists of hip, leg and tail bone fragments, but these are poorly preserved. Special features are the short iliac bone with only two or three pelvic vertebrae and the very long legs.
Friedrich von Huene described this find in 1910. The name Saltopus ( Latin salto - "hop"; Greek pous - "foot") he received because of his long hind legs, which, according to von Huene, were too long to walk upright . Von Huene therefore said that the animal jumped like a frog .
More recent investigations come from Rauhut and Hungerbühler.
swell
- ↑ Oliver WM Rauhut , Axel Hungerbühler: A review of European Triassic theropods. In: Gaia. Revista de Geociências. No. 15, 2000, ISSN 0871-5424 , pp. 75-88.
