Westbury claypit (Lafarge cement works) E4 (Jurassic of the United Kingdom)

Where: England, United Kingdom (51.3° N, 2.2° W: paleocoordinates 41.9° N, 7.8° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Aulacostephanus eudoxus ammonoid zone, Lower Member (Kimmeridge Clay Formation), Late/Upper Kimmeridgian (155.7 - 150.8 Ma)

• The stratigraphic section at Westbury (Fig. 1; Birkelund et al. 1983) shows that BRSMG Cd6172 was found 7 m below the Crussoliceras limestone horizon in the eudoxus biozone E4, the fourth of five biozones comprising the lower Kimmeridgian substage.

•["Lower Kimmerdigan" is incorrect, the Aulacostephanus eudoxus biozone is Upper Kimmeridgian]

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; calcareous claystone

• BRSMG Cd6172 was found partially disarticulated in a calcareous clay matrix, with a thick to thin indurated calcitic layer on bone surfaces. Both dorsal and ventral surfaces were also variably encrusted with invertebrate epibionts

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: permineralized

Collected by Bristol City Museums and Art Gallery staff in 1994

Collection methods: quarrying, chemical, mechanical, acetic

Primary reference: J. Sassoon, L. F. Noe, and M. J. Benton. 2012. Cranial anatomy, taxonomic implications and palaeopathology of an Upper Jurassic pliosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from Westbury, Wiltshire, UK. Palaeontology 55(4):743-773 [R. Benson/R. Benson/R. Benson]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 127610: authorized by Roger Benson, entered by Roger Benson on 18.05.2012

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Reptilia
 Plesiosauria - Pliosauridae
Pliosaurus carpenteri n. sp.
Pliosaurus carpenteri n. sp. Benson et al. 2013 plesiosaur
BRSMG Cd6172: cranium, mandible, ribs (seven large elements and numerous fragments), vertebrae (at least 17 complete) some with associated neural processes, propodials, epipodials, paddle and phalangeal elements, gastralia, part of the right scapula, part of the left coracoid, part of the left scapula and possible pelvic elements