Where: England, United Kingdom (50.7° N, 2.8° W)

• Paleocoordinates: 39.0° N, 14.3° E (Wright 2013)

When: Prodactylioceras davoei ammonoid zone, Green Ammonite Member (Charmouth Mudstone Formation), Early/Lower Pliensbachian (189.6 - 183.0 Ma)

• The rocks below Golden Cap comprise units of the uppermost Lower and Middle Lias (Lower Jurassic), while the summit is composed of unconformable Lower Cretaceous strata (Albian Upper Greensand and Gault). Although the rock containing the plesiosaur may have slumped from any point in the cliff, only lithologies from the Lias formations match the grey, nodular, carbonate mudstone matrix of the specimen and the soft surrounding clay from which it was prised... based on local stratigraphy the fossil is certainly Pliensbachian (uppermost Lower Lias of Middle Lias) in age. An ammonite impression on top of one of the anterior dorsal vertebrae and its enclosing matrix has been identified (M. J. Simms and D. Donovan, pers. communication, 1994) as Aegoceras cf. A capricornus (Schlotheim). This identification suggests the specimen is from the top of the Lower Lias, probably the Aegoceras capricornus Subzone [Prodactylioceras davoei Zone]. Aegoceras capricornus occurs within the lower Pliensbachian Green Ammonite Beds of the uppermost Lower Lias which, indeed, do crop out extensively along the cliff face at the base of Golden Cap.

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: nodular, gray, calcareous mudstone and claystone

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by R. E. Hotchin and L. Brandon in 1990

Collection methods: surface (float),

• BRSMG, Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, England, United Kingdom

Primary reference: G. W. Storrs. 1995. A juvenile specimen of ? Plesiosaurus sp. from the Lias (Lower Jurassic, Pliensbachian) near Charmouth, Dorset, England. Proceedings of the Dorsal Archaelogical and Natural History Society 116:71-76 [R. Benson/R. Benson]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 138247: authorized by Roger Benson, entered by Roger Benson on 08.01.2013

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