Saltriosaurus
Encyclopedia
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
that lived during the Jurassic period. It was found in 1996, when Angelo Zanella discovered its remains in a quarry in Saltrio
Saltrio
Saltrio is a comune in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 50 km northwest of Milan and about 9 km northeast of Varese, on the border with Switzerland...
, in northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Very little is known about the dinosaur. The name "Saltriosaurus", given to it in 2000 by Cristiano Dal Sasso, is a nomen nudum
Nomen nudum
The phrase nomen nudum is a Latin term, meaning "naked name", used in taxonomy...
.
Saltriosaurus is thought to have resembled Allosaurus
Allosaurus
Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
, and is the oldest known three-fingered dinosaur. Like Allosaurus, it appears to have been carnivorous and is estimated to have weighed about 500 kilogram
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
s (1,100 lb
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
). It was 8 meters (26 ft) long and 4 meters (13 ft) tall, with a skull 70 centimeters (28 in) long. The single tooth that has been found was about 7 centimeters (2.8 in) long.
About ten percent of the skeleton has been discovered thus far: lateral tooth, dorsal rib fragments, scapular
Scapular
The term scapular as used today refers to two specific, yet related, Christian Sacramentals, namely the monastic and devotional scapulars, although both forms may simply be referred to as "scapular"....
fragment, furcula
Furcula
The ' is a forked bone found in birds, formed by the fusion of the two clavicles. In birds, its function is the strengthening of the thoracic skeleton to withstand the rigors of flight....
, humeri
Humerus
The humerus is a long bone in the arm or forelimb that runs from the shoulder to the elbow....
, metacarpal II, phalanx
Phalanx bones
In anatomy, phalanx bones are those that form the fingers and toes. In primates such as humans and monkeys, the thumb and big toe have two phalanges, while the other fingers and toes consist of three. Phalanges are classified as long bones.The phalanges do not have individual names...
II-1, phalanx III-1, phalanx III-2, manual ungual
Ungual
An ungual is a highly modified distal toe bone which ends in a hoof, claw, or nail. Elephants and other ungulates have ungual phalanges, as did the sauropods and horned dinosaurs. A claw is a highly modified ungual phalange.As an adjective, ungual means related to nail, as in periungual .-External...
III, proximal fibula, distal tarsal
Tarsus (skeleton)
In tetrapods, the tarsus is a cluster of articulating bones in each foot situated between the lower end of tibia and fibula of the lower leg and the metatarsus. In the foot the tarsus articulates with the bones of the metatarsus, which in turn articulate with the bones of the individual toes...
III, distal tarsal IV.