Shotover Railway Cutting (Great Western Railway excavation), near Swindon (Jurassic of the United Kingdom)

Where: England, United Kingdom (51.8° N, 1.2° W: paleocoordinates 42.5° N, 8.6° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Pectinatites hudlestoni and Pavlovia pallasioides ammonoid zone, Kimmeridge Clay Formation, Late/Upper Kimmeridgian (155.7 - 150.8 Ma)

• "According to Gallois & Cox (1994) and Cox (2001) the strata exposed during the project were part of the Upper Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Swindon Clay and Cemetery Beds), representing the Pectinatites hudlestoni and Pavlovia pallasioides ammonite zones" (Knutsen 2012, p. 269) [Upper Kimmeridgian]

Environment/lithology: marine; lithology not reported

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by found during the excavation of the Great Western Railway in <1871; reposited in the BMNH

Collection methods: quarrying, mechanical,

• OUMNH, Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Primary reference: L. B. Tarlo. 1960. A review of Upper Jurassic pliosaurs. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology Series 14(5):147-189 [R. Benson/R. Benson/R. Benson]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 119667: authorized by Roger Benson, entered by Roger Benson on 30.10.2011

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Reptilia
 Plesiosauria -
"Thaumatosaurus carinatus" = Plesiosaurus carinatus1, Plesiosaurus ellipsospondylus1
"Thaumatosaurus carinatus" = Plesiosaurus carinatus1 Cuvier 1824 plesiosaur
BMNH 31908 (Fig. 57), cervical vertebra, purchased about 1852
Plesiosaurus ellipsospondylus1 Phillips 1871 plesiosaur
BMNH 31916, cervical centrum purchased about 1852
 Plesiosauria - Pliosauridae
"Stretosaurus macromerus n. gen. n. sp." = Pliosaurus macromerus2
"Stretosaurus macromerus n. gen. n. sp." = Pliosaurus macromerus2 Phillips 1871 plesiosaur
includes Philips (1871) described and named the species Pleiosaurus macromerus based on a large femur (OUMNH J.12498) and several unassociated vertebrae. The material includes OUMNH J.10441 (lectotype anterior cervical centrum)