View source for Saltopus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of reptiles}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = [[Late Triassic]], {{fossilrange|235|205}}
| image = Saltopus elginensis holotype.jpg
| image_caption = The [[Holotype]] specimen, NHMUK PV R 3915, in the collections of the Natural History Museum, London.
| display_parents= 4
| genus = Saltopus
| parent_authority = [[Friedrich von Huene|von Huene]], [[1910 in paleontology|1910]]
| species = elginensis
| authority = von Huene, 1910
}}

'''''Saltopus''''' ("hopping foot") is a genus of very small bipedal [[dinosauriform]] containing the [[Monotypic taxon|single]] [[species]] '''''Saltopus elginensis''''' from the late [[Triassic]] period of [[Scotland]].<ref name="huene1910" /> It is one of the most famous [[Elgin Reptiles]].

==Description==
[[File:Saltopus NT small.jpg|thumb|left|[[Life restoration]]]] 
''Saltopus elginensis'' is known only from a single partial skeleton lacking the skull, but including parts of the vertebral column, the forelimbs, the pelvis and the hindlimbs. These have been mainly preserved as impressions or natural casts in the sandstone; very little bone material is present.<ref name="huene1910">Huene, F.R. von (1910). "Ein primitiver Dinosaurier aus der mittleren Trias von Elgin." ''Geol. Pal. Abh. n. s.'', '''8''': 315-322.</ref> It was about the size of a domestic cat, and would have been roughly {{convert|80|-|100|cm|in}} long.<ref name="Benton2011"/> It had hollow bones like those of birds and other dinosaurs. It may have weighed around {{convert|1|kg|lbs}}. In 2016, it was estimated to be 50 cm long, 15 cm high at the hips, and 110 g.<ref> Molina-Pérez & Larramendi 2016. Récords y curiosidades de los dinosaurios Terópodos y otros dinosauromorfos, Larousse. Barcelona, Spain p. 19 </ref> Most of the length was accounted for by the tail. It had five-fingered hands, with the fourth and fifth finger reduced in size. Contrary to the original description, in 2011 it was established that the [[sacrum]] (hip vertebrae) was made up of two vertebrae, the primitive ancestral condition, not four.<ref name="Benton2011"/>

==History==
The only known [[fossil]] of ''Saltopus'' was discovered in 1867 by [[William Taylor (paleontologist)|William Taylor]] in the [[Lossiemouth]] West & East Quarries. It was initially named as a specimen of ''Telerpeton elginense'' (now ''[[Leptopleuron|Leptopleuron lacertinum]]'') by [[Thomas Henry Huxley]] in 1867,<ref>T. H. Huxley. (1867). On a new specimen of ''Telerpeton elginense''. ''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London'' 23:77-84</ref> and it was later named and described by [[Friedrich von Huene]] in 1910 as the [[type species]] ''Saltopus elginensis''.<ref name="huene1910" /> 

The generic name is derived from [[Latin]] ''saltare'', "to jump" and Greek πούς, ''pous'', "foot". The [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] refers to its provenance near [[Elgin, Moray|Elgin]], which yields the [[Elgin Reptiles]]. The [[holotype]], '''NHMUK PV R 3915''', was excavated from the [[Lossiemouth Sandstone]] Formation, which dates from the [[Carnian]]-[[Norian]] stage.<ref name="huene1910"/>

==Classification==
''Saltopus'' has been variously identified as a [[saurischian]] (lizard-hipped) dinosaur, a more advanced [[theropod]], and a close relative of the [[Herrerasauria|herrerasaurs]], but its [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]] has been in dispute because only fragmentary remains have been recovered.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Matthew G. Baron |author2=Megan E. Williams |year=2018 |title=A re-evaluation of the enigmatic dinosauriform ''Caseosaurus crosbyensis'' from the Late Triassic of Texas, USA and its implications for early dinosaur evolution |journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |volume=63 |doi=10.4202/app.00372.2017 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Some researchers, such as [[Gregory S. Paul]],<ref name="paul1988">Paul, G.S. (1988). ''Predatory Dinosaurs of the World.'' New York: Simon and Schuster. 464 pp.</ref> have suggested it may represent a juvenile specimen of a [[coelophysid]] theropod such as ''[[Coelophysis]]'' or ''[[Procompsognathus]]''. Rauhut and Hungerbühler in 2000 concluded it is a primitive dinosauriform, not a true dinosaur, closely related to ''[[Lagosuchus]]''.<ref name="rauhut2000">Rauhut, O.M.W. and A. Hungerbühler. (2000). "A review of European Triassic theropods." ''Gaia'', '''15''': 75-88.</ref> [[Michael Benton]], continuing the studies of the late [[Alick Walker]] redescribing the fossil in 2011, found it to be a [[dinosauriformes|dinosauriform]] more derived than ''[[Lagosuchus]]''.<ref name="Benton2011">Michael J. Benton and Alick D. Walker†. 2011. "''Saltopus'', a dinosauriform from the Upper Triassic of Scotland", ''Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh'', Volume '''101''', Special Issue 3-4, pp 285 - 299 Royal Society of Edinburgh 2011. Published online: 17 May 2011 {{doi|10.1017/S1755691011020081}}</ref>

A large phylogenetic analysis of early dinosaurs and dinosauromorphs by Matthew Baron, [[David B. Norman]] and Paul Barrett (2017) recovered ''Saltopus'' near the base of the dinosaur lineage, suggesting that it may represent the closest relative of true dinosaurs.<ref name="Ornithoscelida">Baron, M.G., Norman, D.B., and Barrett, P.M. (2017). A new hypothesis of dinosaur relationships and early dinosaur evolution. ''Nature'', '''543''': 501–506. {{doi|10.1038/nature21700}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DnoGtD4WwAEQcu8.jpg A photograph of the sandstone slab showing the only known ''Saltopus'' specimen, published by the twitter account of the Barret Lab at the London Natural History Museum]
* [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DnoGtD6X0AAcjmj.jpg The counterpart of the ''Saltopus'' slab, from the same source]

{{Avemetatarsalia}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q132859|from2=Q20719247}}

[[Category:Dinosauromorpha]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1910]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Friedrich von Huene]]
[[Category:Reptile genera]]
[[Category:Carnian reptiles]]
[[Category:Reptiles of the United Kingdom]]