Schleitheimia
Named after Schleitheim, the Swiss locality (in the canton of Schaffhausen) where the type material was found, with the Latinized suffix '-ia'.
Late Triassic stages
Schleitheimia is an extinct genus of sauropodiform sauropodomorph dinosaur, from the Gruhalde Member of Klettgau Formation of Switzerland. The type species, Schleitheimia schutzi was formally described in 2020.
Under dispute
Schleitheimia schutzi is recovered as the immediate sister taxon of Sauropoda (or in a polytomy of direct outgroups to Sauropoda) by Rauhut and colleagues (2020).
Diagnosis
- Medial brevis shelf of ilium developed as dorsoventrally broad, rounded ridge just below mid-height of iliac blade on medial side, ending in large round expansion at posterior end
- Fourth trochanter of femur very robust, arising gradually from posterior surface at about mid-width towards apex at posteromedial margin
- Crista tibiofibularis of femur exceptionally broad and only very slightly offset medially from lateral margin of shaft, with no posteriorly facing shelf present lateral to crista
Species
Schleitheimia schutzi Rauhut et al., 2020
Type species
Named for Emil Schutz, who collected the type material between 1952 and 1954 and later donated it to the University of Zürich.
- Holotype
- PIMUZ A/III 550 , University of Zurich Paleontology Museum
- Material
- Partial right ilium
- Horizon
- Gruhalde Member, Klettgau Formation, Norian, Late Triassic , 227.3–205.7 million years ago
- Locality
- Santierge, Schleitheim, Schaffhausen, Switzerland
References
- Rauhut, O. W. M.; Holwerda, F. M.; Furrer, H. (2020). A derived sauropodiform dinosaur and other sauropodomorph material from the Late Triassic of Canton Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Swiss Journal of Geosciences 113(1). Pensoft Publishers. doi:10.1186/s00015-020-00360-8 rauhut2020a
-
Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates.
jones2026b