Saltriosaurus

Saltriosaurus (Saltrio-lizard) is the informal name for a theropod dinosaur that lived during the Sinemurian, Early Jurassic period, about 200 million years ago. [2][3][4] The name Saltriosaurus, given to it in 2001 by Della Vecchia, is a nomen nudum. Cristiano Dal Sasso is the official author.

Classification
The precise systematic position of Saltriosaurus is uncertain, with an assignment to a more general Theropoda often used for simplicity. [2] [3] Dal Sasso originally assinged "Saltriosaurus" to Tetanurae. [4] He later cosidered it possible that Saltriosaurus was a Carnosaur, although in either case it would predate other members of the clades by roughly 20-30 million years. [6] Benson considered it a member of Coelophysoidea in his review of Magnosaurus.

Fossil records
Saltriosaurus was found in 1996, when Angelo Zanella discovered its remains in a quarry in Saltrio, [2] in northern Italy. Saltriosaurus likely died on the shores of an ancient beach before being washed out to sea. About ten percent of the skeleton has been discovered: lateral tooth, dorsal rib fragments, scapular fragment, a well preserved but incomplete furcula, humeri, metacarpal II, phalanx II-1, phalanx III-1, phalanx III-2, manual ungual III, proximal fibula, distal tarsal III, distal tarsal IV (in all there are 119 bones).