A "partial skeleton" means that only some of the bones or parts of a skeleton are present or found. It is not a complete set of bones.
Sentences with «partial skeleton»
h. Donald C. Johanson et al., «New Partial Skeleton of Homo Habilis from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania,» Nature, Vol. (talkorigins.org)
Several paleontologists took issue with his team's reconstruction of the dinosaur, which combined the new partial skeleton with earlier fragmentary finds of specimens that differed in size, as well as data from Stromer's surviving notes. (discovermagazine.com)
New partial skeletons of Palaeocene Nyctitheriidae and evaluation of proposed euarchontan affinities. (nycep.org)