Rhaetic Bone Bed, Aust Cliff: Rhaetian, United Kingdom
collected by Johnson

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia - Plesiosauria
Plesiosaurus dibothrius
Owen 1854 1 specimen
cervical vertebrae (RCS)
Reptilia
? Zanclodon sp. Plieninger 1846
Browne 1894
Pachystropheus rhaeticus n. sp. von Huene 1935
Benton and Spencer 1995
Actinopteri - Semionotiformes - Semionotidae
Sargodon sp. Plieninger 1847
Davis 1881
    = Sargodon tomicus Plieninger 1847
Duffin 1982
Palaeonisciformes - Birgeriidae
Saurichthys acuminatus n. sp. Agassiz 1843
Storrs 1994 32 specimens
recombined as Birgeria acuminata
Chondrichthyes - Synechodontiformes - Palaeospinacidae
Nemacanthus monilifer n. sp. Agassiz 1836
Agassiz 1843
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes - Hybodontidae
Cladodus curtus n. sp. Davis 1881
Davis 1881
nomen dubium belonging to Hybodus
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes
Lissodus sp. Brough 1935
Benton and Spencer 1995
see common names

Geography
Country:United Kingdom State/province:England County:Avon
Coordinates: 51.6° North, 2.6° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:36.1° North, 0.8° East
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period:Triassic Epoch:Late/Upper Triassic
Stage:Rhaetian 10 m.y. bin:Triassic 4
Key time interval:Rhaetian Zone: Avicula contorta
Age range of interval:208.50000 - 201.40000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Penarth Formation:Westbury
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: Bonebed is at the base of the Westbury Formation
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:lenticular sandy conglomerate
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "lenses of grit or intra-formational conglomerate (or breccia) of sedimentary rocks with a calcite-cemented sandy matrix"
Environment:coastal indet.
Geology comments: marine coastal conditions, possibly a result of a storm or the Rhaeitian transgression
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,trace,replaced with phosphate,coprolite
Degree of concentration:-bonebed
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Spatial orientation:random
Preservation of anatomical detail:poor
Abundance in sediment:abundant
Articulated whole bodies:none
Associated major elements:none
Size sorting:poor
Spatial resolution:parautochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:core,selective quarrying,mechanical,field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Museum repositories:BGS,BMNH
Collectors:Johnson
Metadata
Database number:57958
Authorizer:M. Carrano, R. Butler, M. Clapham Enterer:K. Maguire, R. Butler, M. Carrano, M. Clapham
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:vertebrate
Created:2006-01-11 13:28:25 Last modified:2021-06-21 15:48:49
Access level:the public Released:2006-01-11 13:28:25
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
14071.ETE R. Owen. 1842. Report on British fossil reptiles, part II. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 11:60-204 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

9282 L. Agassiz. 1843. Recherches Sur Les Poissons Fossiles. Tome III (15me, 16me livraison) 157-390 [J. Alroy/R. Whatley/M. Clapham]
15587ETE M. J. Benton and P. S. Spencer. 1995. Fossil Reptiles of Great Britain. Chapman & Hall, London 1-386 [M. Carrano/K. Maguire/J. Tennant]
77197 M. Browne. 1894. On some vertebrate remains from the Rhaetic strata of Britain. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 64:657-658 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
19402ETE R. J. Butler, L. B. Porro, and A. B. Heckert. 2006. A supposed heterodontosaurid tooth from the Rhaetian of Switzerland and a reassessment of the European Late Triassic record of Ornithischia (Dinosauria). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Monatshefte 2006(10):613-633 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
14199ETE M. T. Carrano. 2025. Taxonomic opinions on the Dinosauria. [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
24888ETE J. W. Davis. 1881. Notes on the fish-remains of the bone-bed at Aust, near Bristol; with the description of some new genera and species. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 37:414-426 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
31216ETE J. B. Delair. 1960. The Mesozoic reptiles of Dorset. Part two. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 80:52-90 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/R. Benson]
38111 C. J. Duffin. 1982. A palaeospinacid shark from the Upper Triassic of south-west England. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 74:1-7 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
16509ETE P. M. Galton. 2005. Bones of large dinosaurs (Prosauropoda and Stegosauria) from the Rhaetic Bone Bed (Upper Triassic) of Aust Cliff, southwest England. Revue de Paléobiologie, Genève 24(1):51-74 [M. Carrano/K. Maguire/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]
29301ETE S. C. R. Maidment, D. B. Norman, P. M. Barrett and P. Upchurch. 2008. Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 6(4):367-407 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
34651 R. Owen. 1840. Report on British fossil reptiles. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 8:43-126 [M. Carrano/H. Street/M. Carrano]
9842 R. Owen. 1854. Descriptive catalogue of the Fossil organic remains of Reptilia and Pisces contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. London 1-184 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
29868 G. W. Storrs. 1994. Fossil vertebrate faunas of the British Rhaetian (latest Triassic). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 112:217-259 [R. Butler/R. Butler/M. Carrano]
29867 S. Stutchbury. 1850. On a large cylindrical bone found by Mr Thompson in the “Bone-bed” of Aust Cliff, on the Severn. Annual Report of the Association for the Advancement of Science, Transactions of the Sections 1849, London 19:67 [R. Butler/R. Butler]
37125 P. E. S. Whalley. 1985. The systematics and palaeogeography of the Lower Jurassic insects of Dorset, England. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology 39(3):107-189 [M. Clapham/J. Karr/M. Clapham]
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]
32796 T. Wright. 1860. On the Zone of Avicula contorta, and the Lower Lias of the South of England. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 16:374-411 [M. Carrano/H. Street]