Editing Saltasaurus (section)

==Description==
[[File:Saltasaurus environment.jpg|thumb|left|''Saltasaurus'' herd passes [[abelisaurids]] and ''[[Noasaurus]]'']]
[[File:Saltasaurus size.png|thumb|300px|Size comparison of ''Saltasaurus'', size based on Donald Henderson]]
''Saltasaurus'' is very small compared to most other members of the Sauropoda. Powell estimated the adult length at six metres. In 2010, [[Gregory S. Paul]] estimated the maximum length at {{convert|8.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} and the weight at 2.5 tonnes (2.8 short tons).<ref>Paul, G.S., 2010, ''The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs'', Princeton University Press p. 213</ref>  Donald Henderson estimated a larger size of {{convert|10.6 to 12.1|m|ft|abbr=on}} long.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Henderson|first1=Donald|year=2013|title=Sauropod Necks: Are They Really for Heat Loss?|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=8|issue=10|pages=e77108|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0077108|doi-access=free |pmid=24204747|pmc=3812985 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...877108H}}</ref>

The teeth of ''Saltasaurus'' were cylindrical, with spatulate points. ''Saltasaurus'' had a relatively short neck with shortened neck vertebrae. The vertebrae from the middle part of its tail had elongated [[Vertebral column|centra]].<ref name="veneno-caudal-145" /> ''Saltasaurus'' had vertebral lateral fossae, pleurocoels, that resembled shallow depressions.<ref name="veneno-caudal-147" /> Fossae that similarly resemble shallow depressions are known from ''[[Malawisaurus]]'', ''[[Alamosaurus]]'', ''[[Aeolosaurus]]'', and ''[[Gondwanatitan]]''.<ref name="veneno-caudal-147" /> ''Venenosaurus'' also had depression-like fossae, but its pleurocoels penetrated deeper into the vertebrae, were divided into two chambers, and extend farther into the vertebral columns.<ref name="veneno-caudal-147" /> In ''Saltasaurus'', the vertebral bone was generally [[cancellous]] and there were larger air chambers present as well. The limbs were short and stubby with especially short hands and feet. ''Saltasaurus'' had more robust radii than ''[[Venenosaurus]]''.<ref name="veneno-forelimb-148" /> The belly was extremely wide.

The osteoderms came in two types. There were larger oval plates with a length of up to twelve centimetres. These were keeled or spiked and perhaps were ordered in longitudinal rows along the back. The second type consists of small ossicles, rounded or pentagonal, about seven millimetres in diameter, that formed a continuous armour between the plates. A study in 2010 concluded that the larger plates had cancellous bone but that the ossicles had a denser bone tissue.<ref>Ignacio A. Cerda and Jaime E. Powell, 2010, "Dermal Armor Histology of ''Saltasaurus loricatus'', an Upper Cretaceous Sauropod Dinosaur from Northwest Argentina", ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'', '''55'''(3): 389-398</ref>