Tilgate Forest, Cuckfield: Late/Upper Valanginian, United Kingdom
collected by G. Mantell & P. Fuller 1820-1822, 1832-1850

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia - Nodosauridae
Craterosaurus pottonensis Seeley 1874
Galton 1981 1 individual
BMNH R.4134
    = Polacanthus sp. Fox 1866
Galton 1985
Hylaeosaurus armatus n. gen., n. sp. Mantell 1833
Mantell 1833 2 individuals
BMNH 3775, partial skeleton (4 measurements)
    = Hylaeosaurus oweni n. sp. Mantell 1844
Lydekker 1888
synonym of Hylaeosaurus armatus
Hylaeosaurus sp. Mantell 1833
Mantell 1851 1 specimen
BMNH 3789
    = Hylaeosaurus oweni Mantell 1844
Lydekker 1888
synonym of Hylaeosaurus armatus
Reptilia
Regnosaurus northamptoni n. gen., n. sp. Mantell 1848
Mantell 1848 1 specimen
nomen dubium belonging to Stegosauria
BMNH 2422
Iguanodon sp. Mantell 1825
Lydekker 1888 2 specimens
BMNH 2183, ischium; BMNH R124, tibia
    = Euornithopoda indet. Sereno 1986
Galton 2009
Iguanosaurus n. gen. sp. Anonymous 1824
Anonymous 1824
synonym of Iguanodon
Iguanodon mantelli Meyer 1832
Naish and Martill 2001 1 specimen
nomen dubium belonging to Iguanodon
BMNH R2194, L pubis
Reptilia - Dryosauridae
Hypsilophodon foxii Huxley 1870
Lydekker 1888 1 specimen
BMNH 36509, femur
    = Valdosaurus sp. Galton 1977
Galton 2009
Reptilia
Megalosaurus sp. Parkinson 1822
Buckland 1824 1 specimen
    = Megalosaurus bucklandii Mantell 1827
Mantell 1827
teeth, ribs, vertebrae, etc.
    = Theropoda indet. Marsh 1881
Carrano 2025
Reptilia - Spinosauridae
Suchosaurus cultridens n. gen., n. sp. (Owen 1841)
Buffetaut 2010
nomen dubium belonging to Baryonychinae
Reptilia
Bothriospondylus elongatus n. sp. Owen 1875
Owen 1875 1 specimen
nomen dubium belonging to Sauropoda
BMNH 2239, dorsal vertebra
Reptilia - Plesiosauria
Plesiosauria indet. de Blainville 1835
Mantell 1824
Reptilia - Testudines - Cheloniidae
Chelone costata n. sp. Owen 1853
Owen 1853 2 specimens
BMNH 2370 (holotype partial carapace); BMNH 2298 (right hyoplastral)
Reptilia
Plesiochelys sp. Rütimeyer 1873
Lydekker 1889 1 specimen
BMNH 37715 (2nd or 4th costal)
    = Hylaeochelys belli Mantell 1844
Milner 2011
Chelone belli n. sp. Mantell 1844
Pérez-García 2012 1 specimen
recombined as Hylaeochelys belli
Includes BMNH 36529 (holotype costal plate fragment)
Platemys mantelli n. sp. Owen 1841
Owen 1853 1 specimen
synonym of Hylaeochelys belli
BMNH 2288 (holotype right hyoplastral)
Archaeochelys valdensis n. gen., n. sp. Lydekker 1889
Lydekker 1889 5 specimens
synonym of Hylaeochelys belli
BMNH 3532 (holotype hyoplastral), 3533, 3506, 3529, 43626x
Platemys dixoni n. sp. Owen 1853
Owen 1853 1 specimen
synonym of Hylaeochelys belli
BMNH 2289 (holotype left hyoplastral)
Trionyx bakewelli n. sp. Mantell 1833
Lydekker 1889 15 specimens
recombined as Helochelydra bakewelli
Type specimen (BMNH 2265: costal) plus NHMUK 2275x (L xiphiplastron); NHMUK 2276 (median part of R hyoplastron); NHMUK 3528 (proximal costal); NHMUK 3543a (2 plastral fragments); NHMUK 3598 (isolated R epiplastron); NHMUK 26029 (shell fragment); NHMUK 3507 (shell fragment); NHMUK 3509 (shell fragment); NHMUK 3510 (shell fragment); NHMUK 3511 (shell fragment); NHMUK 3521 (shell fragment); NHMUK 3524 (shell fragment); NHMUK 3531 (small shell fragment); NHMUK 28411 (shell fragment).
Reptilia - Pleurosternidae
Pleurosternon sp. Owen 1853
Milner 2011
isolated shell fragments
see common names

Geography
Country:United Kingdom State/province:England County:Sussex
Coordinates: 51.1° North, 0.2° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:41.9° North, 9.5° East
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period:Cretaceous Epoch:Early/Lower Cretaceous
Stage:Valanginian 10 m.y. bin:Cretaceous 1
Key time interval:Late/Upper Valanginian
Age range of interval:139.80000 - 132.60000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Wealden Formation:Tunbridge Wells Sand Member:Grinstead Clay
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: 'Hastings Beds' now a subgroup that includes the Ashdown Formation, the Wadhurst Clay Formation and the Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation. Bed is the "Tilgate Grit."
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:brown,yellow sandstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "fawn-coloured sandstone"; "arenaceous strata"
Environment:terrestrial indet.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Associated major elements:many
Disassociated major elements:some
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:selective quarrying,peel or thin section,field collection,survey of museum collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Museum repositories:BMNH
Collectors:G. Mantell & P. Fuller Collection dates:1820-1822, 1832-1850
Collection method comments: Hylaeosaurus type found by found by Peter Fuller of Lewes. Sauropod humerus discovered in 1847 by Mr. Peter Fuller of Lewes; caudals found some years before by Mantell "collected from the same quarry" (ref 57075).
Metadata
Database number:52258
Authorizer:M. Carrano Enterer:M. Carrano
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:vertebrate
Created:2005-08-02 14:31:00 Last modified:2023-08-25 16:02:42
Access level:the public Released:2005-08-02 14:31:00
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
63769. G. A. Mantell. 1822. The Fossils of the South Downs; or Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex 1-327 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

63620 Anonymous. 1824. Sussex. New Monthly Magazine 12(48):575 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
63619 Anonymous. 1825. The Iguanodon. New Monthly Magazine 14(58):444-445 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
77222 P. M. Barrett and S. C. R. Maidment. 2011. Armoured dinosaurs. In D. J. Batten (ed.), English Wealden Fossils. Palaeontological Association Field Guide to Fossils 14:391-406 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
17002ETE W. T. Blows. 1987. The armoured dinosaur Polacanthus foxi from the Lower Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight. Palaeontology 30(3):557-580 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
17007ETE W. Buckland. 1824. Notice on the Megalosaurus or great Fossil Lizard of Stonesfield. Transactions of the Geological Society of London, series 2 1:390-396 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
70766 E. Buffetaut. 2010. Spinosaurs before Stromer: early finds of spinosaurid dinosaurs and their interpretations. Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Perspective. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 343:175-188 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
14199ETE M. T. Carrano. 2025. Taxonomic opinions on the Dinosauria. [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
17480ETE W. P. Coombs. 1978. The families of the ornithischian dinosaur order Ankylosauria. Palaeontology 21(1):143-170 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
12746ETE P. M. Galton. 1981. Craterosaurus pottonensis Seeley, a stegosaurian dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of England, and a review of Cretaceous stegosaurs. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 161(1):28-46 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
12793ETE P. M. Galton. 1985. British plated dinosaurs (Ornithischia, Stegosauridae). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 5(3):211-254 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
31500 P. M. Galton. 2009. Notes on Neocomian (Lower Cretaceous) ornithopod dinosaurs from England - Hypsilophodon, Valdosaurus, "Camptosaurus", "Iguanodon" - and referred specimens from Romania and elsewhere. Revue de Paléobiologie, Genève 28(1):211-273 [R. Butler/R. Butler]
62949 E. Hennig. 1915. Fossilium Catalogus. I: Animalia. Pars 9: Stegosauria 1-16 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
14142ETE R. Lydekker. 1888. Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History). Part I. Containing the Orders Ornithosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, Squamata, Rhynchocephalia, and Proterosauria. British Museum (Natural History), London 1-309 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Uhen]
41531 R. Lydekker. 1889. Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History) Part III. The Order Chelonia 1-239 [R. Benson/R. Benson/M. Uhen]
34362 G. A. Mantell. 1824. Description of some fossil vegetables of the Tilgate Forest in Sussex. Transactions of the Geological Society of London, series 2 1:421-424 [M. Carrano/H. Street]
64604 G. A. Mantell. 1827. Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex: Containing a General View of the Geological Relations of the South-Eastern Part of England; wth Figures and Descriptions of the Fossils of Tilgate Forest xii-92 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
23493ETE G. A. Mantell. 1833. The Geology of the South-East of England xix-415 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
64605 G. A. Mantell. 1836. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Objects of Geology, Natural History, and Antiquity, (Chiefly Discovered in Sussex), in the Museum, Attached to the Sussex Scientific and Literary Institution, at Brighton (6th Edition) 1-46 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
23719ETE G. A. Mantell. 1848. On the structure of the jaws and teeth of the Iguanodon. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 138:183-202 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
63768 G. A. Mantell. 1850. A Pictorial Atlas of Fossil Remains 1-207 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/A. Srogota]
19872ETE G. A. Mantell. 1850. On the Pelorosaurus; an undescribed gigantic terrestrial reptile, whose remains are associated with those of Iguanodon and other saurians in the strata of the Tilgate Forest, in Sussex. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 140(16):379-390 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/P. Mannion]
23717ETE G. A. Mantell. 1851. On a dorsal dermal spine of the Hylaeosaurus, recently discovered in the strata of Tilgate Forest. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 5:957-958 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
17381ETE G. A. Mantell. 1851. Petrifactions and Their Teachings; or, a Hand-Book to the Gallery of Organic Remains of the British Museum xi-496 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
63762 G. A. Mantell. 1854. The Medals of Creation; or, First Lessions in Geology, and the Study of Organic Remains 2:447-930 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
36749ETE A. G. Melville. 1849. Notes on the vertebral column of the Iguanodon. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 139:285-300 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
41565 A. R. Milner. 2011. Turtles. Palaeontological Association Field Guide to Fossils 14:295-304 [R. Benson/R. Benson]
82791 D. Naish and D. M. Martill. 2001. Armoured dinosaurs: thyreophorans. In D. M. Martill & D. Naish (ed.), Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. Palaeontological Association Field Guides to Fossils 10:147-184 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
82927 D. Naish and D. M. Martill. 2001. Ornithopod dinosaurs. In D. M. Martill & D. Naish (ed.), Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. Palaeontological Association Field Guides to Fossils 10:60-132 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
41527 R. Owen. 1853. Part I. A monograph on the fossil chelonian reptiles of the Wealden clays and Purbeck limestones. Monograph on the Fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck Formations. Palaeontographical Society 7(25):1-12 [R. Benson/R. Benson/M. Carrano]
14061ETE R. Owen. 1858. Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck Formations. Part IV. Dinosauria (Hylaeosaurus). [Wealden]. The Palaeontological Society, London 1856:8-26 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
16226 R. Owen. 1859. Palaeontology. The Encyclopaedia Brittanica, or Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature (8th Edition) 17:91-176 [P. Wagner/P. Wagner/M. Carrano]
85721 R. Owen. 1860. Palaeontology or a Systematic Summary of Extinct Animals and Their Geological Relations 1-420 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
14124ETE R. Owen. 1875. Monographs on the fossil Reptilia of the Mesozoic formations. Part II. (Genera Bothriospondylus, Cetiosaurus, Omosaurus). 29:15-93 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
14558ETE,5% 65740J. Pereda-Suberbiola. 1993. Hylaeosaurus, Polacanthus, and the systematics and stratigraphy of Wealden armoured dinosaurs. Geological Magazine 130(6):767-781 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
41498 A. Pérez-García. 2012. High diversity of pancryptodiran turtles in the Lower Cretaceous of Europe. Cretaceous Research 36:67-82 [R. Benson/R. Benson]
49618 A. Pérez-García and F. Ortega. 2014. A new species of the turtle Hylaeochelys (Eucryptodira) outside its known geographic and stratigraphic ranges of distribution. Comptes Rendus Palevol 13(3):183-188 [P. Mannion/J. Tennant/P. Mannion]
29299 F. -J. Pictet. 1853. Traité de Paléontologie ou Histoire Naturelle des Animaux Fossiles Considérés dans Leurs Rapports Zoologiques et Géologiques [Treatise of Paleontology or the Natural History of Fossil Animals Considered in their Zoological and Geological Relationships] 1:xiv-584 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Carrano]
30971ETE A. S. Woodward and C. D. Sherborn. 1890. A Catalogue of British Fossil Vertebrata. Dulao & Company, London 1-396 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]