PBDB Collection

Hilltop quarries, Wilcox S. Quarry, Griffin's S. Quarry: Anisian, United Kingdom

List of taxa

Where & when

Geology

Taphonomy & methods

Metadata & references

Taxonomic list

Polypodiopsida - Equisetales - Equisetaceae

	Schizoneura paradoxa Schimper and Mougeot 1844	Benton et al. 1994
Voltziopsida - Voltziales - Voltziaceae

	Voltzia heterophylla Brongniart 1828	Benton et al. 1994
Actinopteri - Perleidiformes - Perleididae

	Dipteronotus sp. Egerton 1854	Benton and Spencer 1995
Dipnoi - Ceratodontidae

	Ceratodus sp. Agassiz 1838	Benton and Spencer 1995
Amphibia - Temnospondyli

	Mastodonsaurus sp. Jaeger 1828	Benton et al. 1994	3 specimens
	BIRUG 1, skull plate, ?vertebra, ?tooth
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Cyclotosauridae

	Cyclotosaurus pachygnathus	Benton et al. 1994	1 specimen
	BIRUG 2, lower jaw
Reptilia - Nothosauria

	Nothosauria indet. Baur 1889	Benton et al. 1994	1 specimen
	CAMSM G.351, neural arch
Reptilia

	Rhombopholis scutulata (Owen 1842)		1 specimen
	CAMSM G.343, dorsal vertebra

	Bromsgroveia walkeri Galton 1985	Benton and Gower 1997	5 specimens
	CAMSM G.344a-f, sacral vertebra; CAMSM G.352, tooth; CAMSM G.353, posterior caudal vertebra; CAMSM G.357, proximal archosaur femur; BU 2473, dorsal vertebra

	Rhynchosaurus brodiei Benton 1990	Benton 1990	2 specimens
	CAMSM G336, G337, maxillae
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes - Acrodontidae

	Acrodus sp. Agassiz 1834	Benton and Spencer 1995
Bivalvia - Mytilida - Mytilidae

	? Mytilus sp. Linnaeus 1758	Benton and Spencer 1995
Sabellida - Serpulidae

	Spirorbis sp. Daudin 1800	Benton and Spencer 1995
Branchiopoda - Diplostraca - Euestheriidae

	Euestheria sp. Depéret and Mazeran 1912	Benton and Spencer 1995
see common names

Country:	United Kingdom	State/province:	England	County:	Worcestershire
Coordinates:	52.3° North, 2.1° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:	29.6° North, 20.0° East (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:	stated in text
Geographic resolution:	local area

Period:	Triassic	Epoch:	Middle Triassic
Stage:	Anisian	10 m.y. bin:	Triassic 2
Key time interval:	Anisian
Age range of interval:	246.7 - 241.464 m.y. ago

Formation:	Bromsgrove Sandstone	Member:	Finstall
Stratigraphic resolution:	member
Stratigraphy comments: Bromsgrove Sandstone dated as Anisian on the basis of palynology (Benton et al. 1994); Finstall Member formerly known as the "Building Stones"

Primary lithology:	muddy,calcareous conglomerate
Secondary lithology:	gravel
Includes fossils?	Y
Lithology description: "15-20 m of alternating sandstones and shales and a "marl conglomerate" (i.e. intraformational breccia or conglomerate), in lenticular units, with the sandstones apparently cross-bedded" "Wills noted that the majority of the fossils came from "lenticular beds of marl and shale, while some appear in the sandstone. Some horizons were very carbonaceous, and those contained abundant fragmentary arachnid remains. The red marl and red sandstone were barren of fossils, and plants occurred in the gray sandstone. Wills (1907) noted that "the Labyrinthodont remains, next to the plants, are the most abundant fossils, but are apparently confined to the marl conglomerate." This unit was the source of most of the bones. Wills (1907) believed that the marl conglomerate formed "a definite horizon in all four quarries." It was known locally as "Cat-brain" and consisted "of small pieces of marl, mostly gray in color, cemented, along with bits of bone or wood and sand, into a compact rock. This hardens to a very tough stone, though one only fit for rough work...They are associated with one or more laminae, covered with fragments of carbonized wood. Further, it is in or close to, these marl-conglomerates that most of the teeth and bones of the vertebrates and pieces of stems of plants are found - a significant fact when we consider how many bone-beds are conglomeratic especially in the Trias.. .in some cases [the conglomerates] appear to have decayed in situ: they are then reduced to a friable and crumbly state, while their color is in parts ochreous and others brown, instead of the usual green" (Benton et al. 1994)
Environment:	fluvial-lacustrine indet.
Geology comments: "Wills interpreted the fossiliferous lenticular beds as deposits formed in channels, pools, or lakes on the floodplain and envisaged cyclothemic sedimentation from temporary rivers gradually filling the shallow subsiding Midland Cuvette" "Warrington considered the Bromsgrove Sandstone Formation as comprising a sequence of low-sinuosity, braided stream deposits, followed by deposits representing higher-sinuosity meandering rivers: fining-upward fluvial cycles are well developed. The floral and faunal evidence indicates freshwater or brackish conditions at the time of deposition of the fossiliferous units" (Benton et al. 1994)

Modes of preservation:	body,adpression
Size of fossils:	macrofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:	medium
Abundance in sediment:	common
Fragmentation:	occasional

Reason for describing collection:	taxonomic analysis
Collection method comments: CAMSM, Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge

Database number:	97695
Authorizer:	R. Butler	Enterer:	R. Butler
Modifier:	R. Butler	Research group:	vertebrate
Created:	2010-08-24 08:47:06	Last modified:	2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:	the public	Released:	2010-08-24 08:47:06
Creative Commons license:	CC0

28945		M. J. Benton. 1990. The species of Rhynchosaurus, a rhynchosaur (Reptilia, Diapsida) from the Middle Triassic of England. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 328:213-306 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/R. Butler]
29836		M. J. Benton and D. J. Gower. 1997. Richard Owen's giant Triassic frogs: archosaurs from the Middle Triassic of England. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(1):74-88 [R. Butler/R. Butler]
15587	ETE	M. J. Benton and P. S. Spencer. 1995. Fossil Reptiles of Great Britain. Chapman & Hall, London 1-386 [M. Carrano/K. Maguire/J. Tennant]
24929	ETE	M. J. Benton, G. Warrington, A. J. Newell and P. S. Spencer. 1994. A review of the British Middle Triassic tetrapod assemblages. In N. C. Fraser & H.-D. Sues (eds.), In the Shadow of the Dinosaurs: Early Mesozoic Tetrapods. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 131-160 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
33376		P. M. Galton and A. D. Walker. 1996. Bromsgroveia from the Middle Triassic of England, the earliest record of a poposauroid thecodontian reptile (Archosauria: Rauisuchia). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 201(3):303-325 [R. Butler/R. Butler]
49610		E. N. Kjellesvig-Waering. 1986. A restudy of the fossil Scorpionida of the world. Palaeontographica Americana 55:1-287 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]