| Schleitheimia | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropodiformes |
| Genus: | †Schleitheimia Rauhut, Holwerda & Furrer, 2020 |
| Type species | |
| †Schleitheimia schutzi Rauhut, Holwerda & Furrer, 2020 | |
Schleitheimia (named after the type locality of Schleitheim), is an extinct genus ofsauropodiformsauropodomorphdinosaur,[1] from the Gruhalde Member ofKlettgau Formation ofSwitzerland. Thetype species,Schleitheimia schutzi was formally described in 2020.[1]
The type material was collected between 1952 and 1954 by Emil Schutz. They were donated to theUniversity of Zürich in 1955. In 1986, most of the material was described byPeter Galton, who referred them all to the speciesPlateosaurus engelhardti.
In 2020, Oliver Rauhut, Femke Holwerda and Heinz Furrer redescribed most of Schutz's remains, as well as some remains in the collections of theMuseum zu Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen and new remains from an excavation in 2016 led by Holwerda. They found that the earlier found remains represented a new genus and species, which they namedSchleitheimia schultzi, honoring the type locality and the discoverer of the type remains. The 2016 finds were not referred. Finds made by Schultz near Hallau-Schwärzibuck were considered to represent a different previously unknown taxon and remained unnamed.
Theholotype,PIMUZ A/III 550, was found in a layer of the Klettgau Formation dating from theNorian. It consists of a partial right ilium. Several other bones from the general locality were designated asparatypes. Because they are consistent in morphology, the describers referred all of them to the same taxon, if not the same individual.[1]
The holotype ofSchleitheimia shows a number ofautapomorphies, unique derived traits. There is a broad, rounded ridge on the iliac blade that ends in a large, rounded expansion on the ilium. The fourth tronchanter of the ilium is very robust. The crista tibiofibularis of the femur is broad and there is no posteriorly facing shelf is present lateral to the crista.[1]
Aphylogenetic analysis conducted by Rauhut and colleagues foundSchleitheimia to be a derived sauropodiform closely related toSauropoda, or a basal member of that clade, depending on the definition used (node or stem based). Acladogram from that analysis is shown below:[1]
| Sauropodiformes |
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