Ruehleia

Galton, 2001 ROO-lee-uh

Named for German paleontologist Hugo Rühle von Lilienstern, who collected paleontological material from the region.

227.3–205.7 million years ago Norian, Late Triassic

Late Triassic stages

Ruehleia is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic period of Germany. The type species is R. bedheimensis, described by Galton in 2001, and is named for the German paleontologist Hugo Rühle von Lilienstern. Discovered in 1952, the holotype consists of one nearly complete skeleton, including cervical (neck), dorsal (back), and caudal (tail) vertebrae; a partial sacrum; a scapulocoracoid; pelvic bones; most limb bones; and a partially complete manus (hands). The fossils were found in the Trossingen Formation of central Germany and date to the Norian stage, around 216 to 208 million years ago.

Under dispute

Ruehleia bedheimensis is a German Late Triassic sauropodomorph usually treated as a plateosaurid, but the analysis of Wang and colleagues (2025) instead places it with Plateosauravus as a basal massopodan.

Species

Ruehleia bedheimensis Galton, 2001

Type species

Named after the German town of Bedheim, from where von Lilienstern hailed and near where von Lilienstern worked.

Holotype: MB.R. 4718 , Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
Material: Partial postcranial skeleton comprising cervicals 2 to 10, 15 dorsals, partial sacrum, 19 caudals, vertebral fragments, numerous rib fragments, hemal arches, right scapula and coracoid, left scapula, both humeri, right radius and ulna, parts of both manus, both ilia, ischia and pubes, both femora and tibiae, right astragalus, and a distal tarsal
Horizon: upper Arnstadt Formation, Norian, Late Triassic , 227.3–205.7 million years ago
Locality: Grosser Gleichberg, near Römhild, Thuringia, Germany

References

Galton, P. M. (2001). Prosauropod dinosaurs from the Upper Triassic of Germany. Actas de las I Jornadas Internacionales sobre Paleontología de Dinosaurios y su Entorno 25-92.
Conference proceedings volume edited by the Colectivo Arqueológico-Paleontológico de Salas (C.A.S.); contains the original description of Ruehleia bedheimensis.
galton2001a
Sues, H. D.; Schoch, R. R. (2025). Synopsis of the Triassic reptiles from Germany. Fossil Record 28(2): 411-483. Pensoft Publishers. doi:10.3897/fr.28.164405
Catalogs the holotype as MB.R. 4718, the specimen Galton described as Individual 1.
sues2025a
Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length estimate.
jones2026b
Wang, Y. M.; Zhang, Q. N.; Wang, Y. C.; Xu, H.; Chen, J.; Feng, Z.; Xu, X.; Wang, T.; You, H. L. (2025). A new Early Jurassic dinosaur represents the earliest-diverging and oldest sauropodomorph of East Asia. Scientific Reports 15(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-12185-2
New early-diverging dinosaur analysis placed Ruehleia with Plateosauravus as a basal massopodan.
wang2025a