Saltoposuchus

Saltoposuchus is an extinct genus of small, long-tailed crocodylomorph reptile (Sphenosuchia), from the Norian of Europe. The name translated means "leaping foot crocodile". It was commonly referred to in popular literature as the ancestor to dinosaurs; however, recent scientific research shows that this is not the case. It has been proposed that Terrestrisuchus was a juvenile junior synonym of Saltoposuchus, due to the similar anatomy and comparatively larger and more robust constitution of the latter, but several apparent anatomical differences between the two have been identified. All the known specimens come from juvenile individuals.

Saltoposuchus

LiterallyMiguel · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CrocodylomorphaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At most 22 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 227.3 Mya and 205.7 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Triassic — about 3 of 3 occurrencesLate Triassic228–227 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences226–226 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences226–225 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences225–224 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences223–223 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences223–222 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences222–221 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences221–220 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences220–220 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences220–219 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences218–217 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences217–217 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences217–216 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences216–215 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences215–214 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences213–213 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences211–210 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences210–210 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences210–209 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences208–207 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences207–207 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences206–205 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences227.8 Mya205.2 Mya

3 occurrences of Saltoposuchus on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

3 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

2 formations

Löwenstein — 49.06°N, 8.98°EKlettgau — 47.50°N, 8.02°E

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The named rock units Saltoposuchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Saltoposuchus and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Saltoposuchus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

19 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Saltoposuchus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

2 references

Each of the 3 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Saltoposuchus

Credit
LiterallyMiguel
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Saltoposuchus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCrocodylomorpha through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. von Huene 1921