Saltopus

Saltopus ("hopping foot") is a genus of very small bipedal dinosauriform containing the single species Saltopus elginensis from the late Triassic period of Scotland. It is one of the most famous Elgin Reptiles. 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. It was about the size of a domestic cat, and would have been roughly 80–100 centimetres (31–39 in) long. It had hollow bones like those of birds and other dinosaurs. It may have weighed around 1 kilogram (2.2 lb). In 2016, it was estimated to be 50 cm long, 15 cm high at the hips, and 110 g. 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.