Shotover Hill, Kimmeridge Clay: Tithonian, United Kingdom
collected by Viscount Cole; W. Buckland

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Rhynchonellata - Rhynchonellida - Cyclothyrididae
Bivalvia - Thraciida - Thraciidae
Thracia depressa (Sowerby 1823)
Bivalvia - Ostreida - Gryphaeidae
Ostrea deltoidea Sowerby 1818
Reptilia - Ichthyosauria
Ichthyosauria indet. de Blainville 1835
Reptilia - Teleosauridae
Owen 1854 2 specimens
cervical neural arch, dorsal centrum (RCS)
Steneosaurus indet. Saint-Hilaire 1825
Reptilia - Metriorhynchidae
Metriorhynchidae indet. Fitzinger 1843
Grange and Benton 1996
Steneosaurus palpebosus n. sp. Phillips 1871
Grange and Benton 1996
Holotype: OUM J.29823, partial skull and incomplete lower jaw
Young et al. 2019
OUMNH J.50061, OUMNH J.50079–J.50085: incomplete isolated tooth crowns and roots.
Reptilia - Plesiosauria
Owen 1854 2 specimens
dorsal vertebrae (RCS)
Owen 1854 2 specimens
cervical vertebrae (RCS)
Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Cryptoclididae
Owen 1840 3 specimens
BMNH 31787 (holotype humerus), 31785 (left femur), 31795 (left humerus)
Reptilia
Owen 1840 1 specimen
humerus (in collection of Sir Phillip Egerton)
see common names

Geography
Country:United Kingdom State/province:England County:Oxfordshire
Coordinates: 51.7° North, 1.2° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:33.5° North, 13.6° East (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:estimated from map
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period: Jurassic Epoch: Late Jurassic
Stage: Tithonian 10 m.y. bin: Jurassic 6
Key time interval: Tithonian Ammonoid zone:  Titanites giganteus
Age range of interval: 149.2 - 143.1 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Ancholme Formation:Kimmeridge Clay
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: "Here only about 100 feet thick. At its base are scattered a few Coprolites; a few feet upward we find Thracia depressa, Gryphsea virgula; still higher, two 'flats' of Ostrea deltoidea; and at a height of fifteen feet a limestone-band, partly septariate, yielding Rhynchonella inconstans, and occasionally Pleiosaurian, Ichthyosaurian, and Steneosaurian bones, which also occur below it."
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:fine,glauconitic,green unlithified claystone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "The lowest part of the clay as seen near Oxford appears in the Heddington pits, resting on coralline oolite. About eight feet above the junction is a calcareous band eight inches thick. With these exceptions, and some parts more shaly than others, the clay appears nearly uniform in quality. There are probably two or three beds of Ostrea deltoidea, one near the base being often recognized, even as far to the north as Yorkshire.... but in Shotover Hill it does not exceed 100 feet on the western side.... The upper part is observed to be greenish in the vicinity of Oxford, and sandy, the tint being derived from glauconite, the common ingredient of greensand. In the railway cutting of Shotover Hill sandstones of a greenish tint interlaminated the upper parts of the clay, and announced the proximity of the next deposit by containing ammonites, pholadomya, and other fossils of the Portland group above."
Environment:marine indet.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,coprolite
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:good
Abundance in sediment:common
Fragmentation:occasional
Spatial resolution:parautochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Reason for describing collection:general faunal/floral analysis
Museum repositories:BMNH
Collectors:Viscount Cole; W. Buckland
Collection method comments: Viscount Cole (later 3rd Earl of Enniskillen)
Metadata
Also known as:D
Database number:98478
Authorizer:M. Carrano, P. Mannion, R. Benson Enterer:H. Street, M. Carrano, J. Tennant, R. Benson, G. Varnham
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:marine invertebrate,vertebrate
Created:2010-10-07 11:33:35 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2010-10-07 11:33:35
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
23773.ETE J. Phillips. 1871. Geology of Oxford and the Valley of the Thames. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1-523 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/E. Vlachos]

Secondary references:

33993 D. S. Brown. 1981. The English Upper Jurassic Plesiosauroidea (Reptilia) and a review of the phylogeny and classification of the Plesiosauria. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) 35(4):253-347 [M. Carrano/H. Street/H. Street]
46685 D. R. Grange and M. J. Benton. 1996. Kimmeridgian metriorhynchid crocodiles from England. Palaeontology 39(2):497-514 [P. Mannion/J. Tennant]
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]
38384 L. B. Tarlo. 1960. A review of Upper Jurassic pliosaurs. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology Series 14(5):147-189 [R. Benson/R. Benson/R. Benson]
79082 M. T. Young, D. Foffa, L. Steel and S. Etches. 2019. Macroevolutionary trends in the genus Torvoneustes (Crocodylomorpha: Metriorhynchidae) and discovery of a giant specimen from the Late Jurassic of Kimmeridge, UK. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 189(2):483-493 [P. Mannion/G. Varnham]