Dinosaurs A to Z
Plateosauridae

Ruehleia bedheimensis

Generic sauropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Ruehleia 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic sauropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Ruehleia
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Triassic (252–201 Mya)
Place
Germany
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Plateosauridae Dinosauria Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Triassic-Jurassic prosauropods, ancestors to giant sauropods.

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.

thumb|left|Vertebrae and ribs, Naturkunde Museum, Berlin

What we know

  • Named by Galton, 2001.
  • Fossils found in Germany.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Ruehleia — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.