Spynie main quarry (quarry 3), near Elgin (Triassic to of the United Kingdom)

Also known as Ornithosuchus holotype site

Where: Scotland, United Kingdom (57.7° N, 3.3° W: paleocoordinates 34.0° N, 0.8° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation, Carnian to Carnian (237.0 - 208.5 Ma)

• Age of the Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation is based upon vertebrate biostratigraphy, with comparisons made to the faunal assemblages from the lower part of the Maleri Formation (India), the upper part of the Santa Maria Formation (Brazil) and the Ischigualasto Formation (Argentina). This is suggestive of a late Carnian to early Norian age (Benton & Walker 2011).

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: dune; lithified, gray, calcareous sandstone

• "Foreset analysis indicates a prevailing south-westerly wind forming barchan dunes. Dunes up to 20 m high migrated across the flood plain during arid intervals"
• "In the main quarry, 20 m faces may be seen displaying grey jointed sandstone, highly silaceous at the top and more calcareous lower down, weathering orange."

•General description of Lossiemouth Sandstones: "The Lossiemouth Sandstones are white, buff, yellow, or pinkish. Grain size is usually uniform with grains well-rounded. The rock is composed of quartz, feldspar, and rare brownish chert and quartzite. Cements are usually overgrowths of secondary quartz and feldspar, but calcite and fluorspar may also occur. The sandstones may be finely laminated, but more usually they show large-scale cross-beds on well-weathered surfaces. These features, as well as the absence of pebbles, the rarity of micas and heavy minerals, strongly suggest aeolian deposition".

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Collected by Newton, Westoll

Primary reference: E. T. Newton. 1894. Reptiles from the Elgin Sandstone. — Description of two new genera. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 185:573-607 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 89008: authorized by Richard Butler, entered by Richard Butler on 28.04.2009

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Reptilia
 Pseudosuchia - Ornithosuchidae
Ornithosuchus woodwardi n. gen. n. sp.
Ornithosuchus woodwardi n. gen. n. sp. Newton 1894 archosaur
BMNH R2409/2410 (holotype), skull and postcranial skeleton; BMNH R8170, dorsal vertebrae and pectoral/forelimb elements; GSM 91072-78, 91080-81, 91085-65, series of vertebrae, scutes, forelimb, femora
 Rhynchosauria - Rhynchosauridae
Hyperodapedon gordoni
Hyperodapedon gordoni Huxley 1859 rhynchosaur
NMS specimens - two skulls. These specimens were formerly listed as held in the Newcastle University collections