Peterborough area, Leeds Collection at National Museum of Ireland: Middle Callovian, United Kingdom
collected by A. N. Leeds, Esq., F.G.S. 1893

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia - Plesiosauria
Plesiosauria indet. (de Blainville 1835)
1 specimen
Specimen NMING F21780 is a single complete ilium, 205mm long
Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Pliosauridae
Peloneustes philarchus (Seeley 1869)
3 specimens
Two isolated propodial bones, NMING F21783 (Fig. 6A) and NMING F21784 (Fig. 6B) and a tooth (NMING F21761) belong to the pliosaur Peloneustes philarchus
Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Cryptoclididae
Muraenosaurus sp. Seeley 1874
1 individual
Specimen NMING F21778 is an incomplete right scapula, 250mm long. The dorsal process is 140mm long on the lateral surface and the ventral process is 150mm wide
Muraenosaurus leedsii Seeley 1874
1 individual
Specimen NMING F21779 is a single right femur (Fig. 5), 335mm long and 175mm wide distally [referred to Muraenosaurus beloclis in the caption to Fig. 5, but to Muraenosaurus leedsii in the text]
Cryptoclidus eurymerus (Phillips 1871)
4 individuals
The remains of four specimens of Cryptoclidus are included in the Dublin Leeds Collection. The most complete individual is NMING F21786 (Fig. 2B) which comprises a large proportion of the vertebral column with neural arches, both humeri (each 260mm long, with a distal width of 155mm), radii (85mm long), ulnae (70mm long), a number of carpals and metacarpals, a complete right scapula (190mm long) and the dorsal process of the left scapula, the anterior part of the left coracoid (preserved part 175mm long), a partial clavicle (not figured), a partial pubis (205mm long) and associated rib fragments (Fig. 4). Specimen NMING F21785 belongs to a larger individual and comprises the distal part of a humerus (305mm wide distally), a radius, two ulnae and a partial ischium (maximum width 230mm), two phalanges, eleven vertebrae, and associated rib fragments. The preservation of this specimen contrasts sharply with most of the other material in the Dublin Leeds Collection; it is likely that this specimen originates from a distinct locality and/or horizon. Specimen NMING F21782 is an isolated right humerus, partly restored in plaster and almost identical in size and form to the right humerus of NMING F21786. Specimen NMING F21781 is the poorly developed humerus of a juvenile plesiosaur, probably also referable to Cryptoclidus due to its general morphology
Reptilia - Metriorhynchidae
Metriorhynchus superciliosus (de Blainville 1853)
2 specimens
recombined as Thalattosuchus superciliosus
Specimen NMING F16892 (Fig. 1A) comprises a skull (almost complete) and lower jaw, associated with 16 vertebrae. Specimen NMING F21731 (Fig. 1B) consists of the skull (almost complete) and the lower jaw, 28 vertebrae and both ilia. The skull has been slightly dorso-ventrally compressed. The dorsal skull bones bear smooth ornamentation and dorsal crests occur on the parietal and squamosal. NMING F21760 is an isolated left femur
Reptilia
Steneosaurus edwardsi Eudes-Deslongchamps 1867
3 individuals
recombined as Neosteneosaurus edwardsi
Specimen NMING F21732 (Fig. 2A) comprises the anterior part of the skull (Fig. 3A) and mandible (~60% of total), two isolated teeth, tarsal bones (a right calcaneum and a right fifth metatarsal), 16 vertebrae including the atlas-axis (Fig. 3B) and rib fragments. Specimens NMING F21762, NMING F21763 are deduced to be additional teeth from two different individuals, due to the different preservation
Reptilia - Ophthalmosauridae
Ophthalmosaurus icenicus Seeley 1874
1 individual
This specimen (NMING F21787) consists of an almost complete pectoral girdle (Fig. 7), both humeri, 80 paddle bones including one complete paddle (Fig. 8A)
see common names

Geography
Country:United Kingdom State/province:England County:Cambridgeshire
Coordinates: 52.6° North, 0.2° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:42.7° North, 9.7° East
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:local area
Time
Period:Jurassic Epoch:Middle Jurassic
Stage:Callovian 10 m.y. bin:Jurassic 5
Key time interval:Middle Callovian Ammonoid zone: Sigaloceras enodatum - Kosmoceras phaeinum
Age range of interval:165.30000 - 161.50000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Ancholme Formation:Oxford Clay Member:Peterborough
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: "One clear drawback of this collection, however, is that no precise information about the geological horizon was provided for any of the Dublin Leeds specimens. Andrews (1910) states that ‘the horizon at which [Oxford Clay] reptilian bones occur is that characterised by the presence of the “Ornatus” group of Ammonites’ (p. vi), particularly Cosmoceras gulielmii. Arkell (1933 in Duff 1975) further specified the zone in which reptile remains are found, to Kosmoceras jason (Middle Callovian). The Dublin Leeds Collection therefore probably originated from this zone of the ‘Lower Oxford Clay’. Although precise stratigraphic positions can retrospectively be determined for some of Alfred Leeds’ specimens from his excavation records in the ‘Eyebury Register’, the only notes relating to the Dublin specimens do not contain salient information" (Araujo et al. 2008, p. 20).
The Peterborough Member (Sigiloceras enodatum (S. calloviense Zone)–Kosmoceras phaeinum (Peltoceras athleta Zone) ammonite Subzone: late Early–early Late Callovian, Middle Jurassic, previously termed the ‘lower Oxford Clay’
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: lithified carbonaceous mudstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "The Lower Oxford Clay is composed predominantly of organic-rich mudstones that on exposure rapidly develop a shale-like fissility" (Hudson & Martill 1991, p. 20-21)
Environment:offshore
Geology comments: "accumulated in a wide, shallow (30–50 m deep) epeiric sea"
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:excellent
Abundance in sediment:abundant
Fragmentation:occasional
Spatial resolution:parautochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:selective quarrying,surface (in situ),mechanical,survey of museum collection
Reason for describing collection:general faunal/floral analysis
Collectors:A. N. Leeds, Esq., F.G.S. Collection dates:November 1893
Collection method comments: NMINH (National Museum of Ireland—Natural History)
The collection was amassed by Alfred Leeds between c. 1867 and 1917 (Leeds 1956) when he assumed the management of his family’s farm in the Peterborough district, Cambridgeshire. Charles Leeds, his elder brother, occupied a minor role in the collection of specimens before he emigrated to New Zealand in 1887.
Metadata
Database number:142299
Authorizer:R. Benson Enterer:R. Benson
Modifier:P. Wagner Research group:vertebrate
Created:2013-04-07 21:59:28 Last modified:2021-02-17 20:56:35
Access level:the public Released:2013-04-07 21:59:28
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
46193. R. Araujo, A. S. Smith, and J. Liston. 2008. Alfred Leeds fossil vertebrate collection of the National Museum of Ireland - Natural History. Irish Journal of Earth Sciences 26:17-32 [R. Benson/R. Benson]

Secondary references:

46063 D. M. Martill and J. D. Hudson. 1991. Fossils of the Oxford Clay 1-286 [R. Benson/R. Benson/R. Benson]
46676 P. M. Sander. 2000. Ichthyosauria: their diversity, distribution and phylogeny. Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 74(1/2):1-35 [P. Mannion/J. Tennant]