Pronunciation: shlyte-HIGH-mee-uh
Meaning: for Schleitheim
Author/s: Rauhut et al. (2020)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Canton Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Acta Ordinal: #1038
Schleitheimia schutzi
(For Schleitheim and Schutz)Etymology
Schleitheimia is named after the locality at
Schleitheim, Canton Schaffhausen, Switzerland, in which it was found.
The species epithet, schutzi, honours Emil Schutz, the collector of the
holotype material.
ZooBank registry: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BDB8A5D5-B41E-49ED-B2B0-075E1310A1B1.
Discovery
The remains of Schleitheimia were discovered in the Bratelen Bonebed ("Rhät-Bonebed") at Santierge—a hill situated 900 m south of the church at
Schleitheim—in the Gruhalde Member (formerly "Zanclodonmergel" or "Knollenmergel") of the Klettgau Formation, Canton Schaffhausen, Switzerland. They were collected by Emil Schutz in 1952 and 1954, and donated to the University of Zürich in 1955.The holotype (PIMUZ A/III 550) is a partial right ilium (a hip bone). The Schutz excavations at Schleitheim produced a series of bones that almost certainly belong to the same individual as the holotype. These include a neck vertebra (PIMUZ A/III 538), several back vertebrae (PIMUZ A/III 540, 539, 541, 545), and tail vertebrae (PIMUZ A/III 542, 543). Limb and pelvic material from the same excavation also appears to belong to this individual, including a left upper-arm bone (PIMUZ A/III 549), the pubic peduncle of the ilium (PIMUZ A/III 4390), a fragment of the pubis (PIMUZ A/III 4398), and the upper portion of a left thigh bone (PIMUZ A/III 551). Additional bones excavated by Schutz—probably from Schleitheim but lacking precise locality data—may also pertain to the holotype individual. These consist of two tail vertebra (PIMUZ A/III 548, PIMUZ A/III 544), and a toe claw from the first digit of the right foot (PIMUZ A/III 547). Considerably later surface finds from Schleitheim provide further tentatively referred material. These include three back vertebrae (MzA NAT15051, NAT15052, NAT15058), a hip vertebra (MzA NAT15050), three tail vertebrae (MzA NAT15049, NAT15047, NAT15048), and a right upper-arm bone (MzA NAT15046). In 1986, Peter Galton described this material and referred most of it to Plateosaurus engelhardti.
