Durdham Down, Quarry Steps: Rhaetian, United Kingdom
collected by J. S. Miller, M. Benton 1836

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes
? Hybodontiformes indet. (Patterson 1966)
Foffa et al. 2014 1 specimen
denticle
Foffa et al. 2014 1 specimen
tooth
Chondrichthyes - Synechodontiformes
Foffa et al. 2014 1 specimen
subsidiary cusp of tooth
Reptilia
Foffa et al. 2014 1 specimen
BRSMG Cb4277.15, fragment of small tooth
Reptilia - Archosauria
Whiteside and Marshall 2008 5 specimens
jaw fragments, caudal, scapulocoracoid
Reptilia
Foffa et al. 2014 1 specimen
BRSMG Cb4195, right femur, initially identified as 'Thecodontosaurus costa’ by Huene (1908)
Riley and Stutchbury 1836 1 specimen
tooth; BRSMG *Ca7448/3
Huene 1908 1 specimen
BRSMG *Ca7461/95, 96
Reptilia - Parasuchidae
Foffa et al. 2014 2 specimens
BRSMG Cb4261.1 and BRSMG Cb4196.5, two large teeth
Reptilia
Riley and Stutchbury 1836 1 specimen
tooth; BRSMG *Ca7449/4
Reptilia - Ornithischia
Galton 2007 1 specimen
BRSMG Ca7474/16b
Reptilia
Galton 2007 3 specimens
BMNH R1549; BRSMG Ca7487c/85; tooth with BMNH 49984e; also BRSMG Cb4277, tibia, "Originally the fossil was identified as a rib and assigned to Thecodontosaurus antiquus by Huene" (from reference 57931)
Galton 2007
Galton 2005 6 individuals
YPM 2195, 56745, 56725, 56726, 56739; BMNH R1542
    = Asylosaurus yalensis n. gen., n. sp. Galton 2007
Galton 2007
Galton 2005 22 specimens
BRSMG Ca7464/118, Cb4243, Cb4189/78, Ca7482/80, Ca7483/82, Cb4174c/41, Ca7451a/81, Ca7454/87, Ca7450/61, Ca7457c/63, Ca7460/57, Ca7560/60, Ca7490/71, Ca7492/69I, Ca7493/70, Ca7498/83; ANSP 9864, 9875, 9856; YPM 56724; BGS 907924; BMNH 49984c
Galton 2007
Seeley 1891 1 specimen
BMNH 49984
Riley and Stutchbury 1836 11 individuals
BRSMG *Ca7465/1, C4529/2; YPM 2192; BRSMG Cb4195.2 and BRSMG Cb4196.4, fragments of single teeth from reference 57931 (7 measurements)
    = Thecodontosaurus antiquus n. sp. Morris 1843
Owen 1842
Galton 2007 3 specimens
YPM 56744; BRSMG Ca7513/77b; BMNH R1539
Benton et al. 2000 1 specimen
"lizard"; BRSMG Cb4715
Galton 2007
Whiteside and Marshall 2008
Benton et al. 2000 19 specimens
BMNH R14111; additional eighteen teeth and jaw fragments from reference 57931
Benton et al. 2000 1 specimen
BRSMG Cb4714
Galton 2007
Foffa et al. 2014 1 specimen
BRSMG Cb4213.2, acrodont tooth
Reptilia - Clevosauridae
Foffa et al. 2014 2 specimens
BRSMG Cb4196.2, incomplete right ramus of lower jaw; BRSMG Cb4196.3, tooth
Reptilia - Kuehneosauridae
Foffa et al. 2014 1 specimen
BRSMG Cb4196, rib: "Considering the archosauromorphs identified from the Durdham Down deposit, an alternative identification is as an ulna of Terrestrisuchus (Crush, 1984), which is of similar size and cross section, but the absence of epiphyses means that the decision between kuehneosaur rib or crocodylomorph ulna must be left open."
Actinopteri
Foffa et al. 2014 1 specimen
tooth
see common names

Geography
Country:United Kingdom State/province:England
Coordinates: 51.5° North, 2.6° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:34.2° North, 8.9° East (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Altitude:320 feet
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period: Triassic Epoch: Late Triassic
Stage: Rhaetian 10 m.y. bin: Triassic 4
Key time interval: Rhaetian
Age range of interval: 208.5 - 201.4 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Formation:Magnesian Conglomerate
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: Late Triassic deposits infill Early Carboniferous (Dinantian) marine limestones
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: "limestone"
Secondary lithology:dolomitic,yellow sandy breccia
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "brecciated beds" within marine limestone are described as "conglomerate" and as "angular fragments of Carboniferous limestone in a matrix of yellow marl." Considered a "dolomitized cave breccia or fissure fill"
Environment:fissure fill
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Degree of concentration:concentrated
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:medium
Abundance in sediment:abundant
Articulated whole bodies:none
Associated major elements:some
Disassociated major elements:many
Disassociated minor elements:many
Fragmentation:frequent
Temporal resolution:time-averaged
Spatial resolution:parautochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:bulk,salvage,selective quarrying,mechanical,field collection,survey of museum collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collectors:J. S. Miller, M. Benton Collection dates:1836
Collection method comments: Agrosaurus specimen was originally believed to have been collected from the NE coast of Australia by the H.M.S. Fly in 1844, but this was later shown to be in error, and these materials represent additional Thecodontosaurus specimens from Durdham Down.
Metadata
Also known as:Redland, Derdham
Database number:51970
Authorizer:M. Carrano, P. Barrett Enterer:M. Carrano, T. Cleary
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:vertebrate
Created:2005-07-07 12:09:49 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2005-07-07 12:09:49
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
31172.ETE W. Buckland. 1824. Reliquiæ Diluvianæ; or, Observations on the Organic Remains Contained in Caves, Fissures, and Diluvial Gravel, and on Other Geological Phenomena, Attesting the Action of an Universal Deluge. Second Edition. John Murray, London 1-303 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

55040 Anonymous. 1834. Discovery of saurian bones in the magnesian conglomerate near Bristol. The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 5:463 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
55041 Anonymous. 1835. Saurian remains in the magnesian conglomerate of Bristol. The West of England Journal of Science and Literature 1:84-85 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
33403 Anonymous. 1835. Discovery of Saurian Bones in the Magnesian Conglomerate near Bristol. American Journal of Science and Arts 28:389 [M. Carrano/M. Oreska]
63690 Anonymous. 1961. Bombed dinosaurs—and a happy ending. New Scientist 9(218):137 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
83804 A. Ballell, J. L. King, J. M. Neenan, E. J. Rayfield, and M. J. Benton. 2021. The braincase, brain and palaeobiology of the basal sauropodomorph dinosaur Thecodontosaurus antiquus. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 193(2):541-562 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
74242 A. Ballell, E. J. Rayfield, and M. J. Benton. 2020. Osteological redescription of the Late Triassic sauropodomorph dinosaur Thecodontosaurus antiquus based on new material from Tytherington, southwestern England. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 40(2):e1770774:1-24 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
53922 H. C. Beasley. 1902. Inaugural address on the fauna indicated in the Lower Keuper Sandstone of the neighbourhood of Liverpool. Proceedings and Transactions of the Liverpool Biological Society 16:3-26 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
13887ETE M. J. Benton, L. Juul, G. W. Storrs and P. M. Galton. 2000. Anatomy and systematics of the prosauropod dinosaur Thecodontosaurus antiquus from the upper Triassic of southwest England. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20(1):77-108 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
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]
57931 D. Foffa, D. I. Whiteside, P. A. Viegas and M. J. Benton. 2014. Vertebrates from the Late Triassic Thecodontosaurus-bearing rocks of Durdham Down, Clifton (Bristol, UK). Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 125:317-328 [P. Barrett/T. Cleary]
14824ETE P. Galton. 2005. Basal sauropodomorph dinosaur taxa Thecodontosaurus Riley & Stutchbury, 1836, T. antiquus Morris, 1843 and T. caducus Yates, 2003: their status re: humeral morphs from the 1834 fissure fill (Upper Triassic) in Clifton, Bristol, UK. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25(3, suppl.):61A [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
12987ETE P. M. Galton. 2000. Are Spondylosoma and Staurikosaurus (Santa Maria Formation, Middle-Upper Triassic, Brazil) the oldest saurischian dinosaurs?. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 74(3):393-423 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/J. Alroy]
30681 P. M. Galton. 2007. Notes on the remains of archosaurian reptiles, mostly basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs, from the 1834 fissure fill (Rhaetian, Upper Triassic) at Clifton in Bristol, southwest England. Revue de Paléobiologie 26(2):505-591 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
16920ETE F. v. Huene. 1905. Trias-Dinosaurier Europas [European Triassic dinosaurs]. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft 57:345-349 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/T. Liebrecht]
16865ETE F. v. Huene. 1908. On phytosaurian remains from the Magnesian Conglomerate of Bristol (Rileya platyodon). Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 8 1:228-230 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
62966 F. v. Huene. 1914. I: Animalia. Pars 4. Saurischia et Ornithischia triadica (“Dinosauria” triadica). 1-20 [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]
57269 C. Moore. 1876. On the age of the Durdham Down deposit, yielding Thecodontosaurus etc. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 45:77-78 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
14071ETE 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]
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]
18059ETE T. H. Rich and P. Vickers-Rich. 2003. A Century of Australian Dinosaurs. Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery and Monash Science Centre, Monash University 1-124 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
83736 T. H. Rich and P. Vickers-Rich. 2020. Dinosaurs of Darkness (second edition) 1-310 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
44685 H. Riley and S. Stutchbury. 1836. A description of various fossil remains of three distinct saurian animals discovered in the autumn of 1834, in the Magnesian Conglomerate on Durdham Down, near Bristol. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 2:397-399 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
44686 H. Riley and S. Stutchbury. 1840. A description of various fossil remains of three distinct saurian animals, recently discovered in the Magnesian Conglomerate near Bristol. Transactions of the Geological Society of London 3:349-357 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
12290 P. L. Robinson. 1957. The Mesozoic fissures of the Bristol Channel area and their vertebrate faunas. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 43:260-228 [R. Whatley/R. Whatley/R. Butler]
16514 C. F. v. Roemer. 1856. II. Erste Periode. Kohlen-Gebirge [II. First period. Coal mountains]. In H. G. Bronn & C. F. v. Roemer (ed.), H. G. Bronn’s Lethaea Geognostica, oder Abbildung und Beschreibung der für die Gebirgs-Formationen Bezeichnendsten Versteinerungen [H. G. Bronn's Lethaea Geognostica, or Illustration and Description of the Most Significant Fossils of the Mountain Formations] 1:1-788 [P. Wagner/P. Wagner/M. Carrano]
76451 R. Schouten. 2000. The Tytherington Thecodontosaurus, a prosauropod dinosaur. In M.-C. Buchy (ed.), 5th European Workshop on Vertebrate Palaeontology. Program. Abstracts. Excursion Guides 73 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
53449 H. G. Seeley. 1891. On Agrosaurus macgillivrayi (Seeley), a saurischian reptile from the N.E. coast of Australia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 47:164-165 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
53458 H. G. Seeley. 1895. On Thecodontosaurus and Palaeosaurus. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 6 15:144-163 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
62300 W. J. Sollas. 1880. On the geology of the Bristol District. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 6(8):375-391 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
15490ETE R. Steel. 1970. Part 14. Saurischia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie/Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1-87 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
23520ETE D. B. Weishampel, P. M. Barrett, R. A. Coria, J. Le Loeuff, X. Xu, X. Zhao, A. Sahni, E. M. P. Gomani, and C. R. Noto. 2004. Dinosaur distribution. In D. B. Weishampel, H. Osmolska, and P. Dodson (eds.), The Dinosauria (2nd edition). University of California Press, Berkeley 517-606 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
59609 D. I. Whiteside, C. J. Duffin, P. G. Gill, J. E. A. Marshall, and M. J. Benton. 2016. The Late Triassic and Early Jurassic fissure faunas from Bristol and South Wales: stratigraphy and setting. Palaeontologia Polonica 67:257-287 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
25869ETE D. I. Whiteside and J. E. A. Marshall. 2008. The age, fauna and palaeoenvironment of the Late Triassic fissure deposits of Tytherington, South Gloucesterhire, UK. Geological Magazine 145(1):105-147 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/R. Butler]
52562 D. Williams. 1834. On the bones of certain animals which have been recently discovered, in the calcareo-magnesian Conglomerate on Durdham Down, near Bristol. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 2:112 [M. Carrano/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]