Saturnalia were a very early sauropodomorph dinosaur, from the Carnian faunal stage of the late Triassic period (227.4 to 220.7 million years ago), making it one of the oldest true dinosaurs yet found. Unlike later, more massive sauropodomorph species, Saturnalia was quite slim. The discovered remains of this species (which amount to very little) have many prosauropod features, yet lack other characteristics shared by all dinosaurs.