Also known as Saint Rémy du Plain, Le Mans
Where: Pays de la Loire, France (48.3° N, 0.4° E: paleocoordinates 37.0° N, 11.3° E)
• coordinate based on nearby landmark
• small collection-level geographic resolution
When: Ludwigia murchisonae ammonoid zone, Tessé Sandstones Formation, Middle Aalenian (175.6 - 171.6 Ma)
• In the description of GUILLIER (1886), the base of the Bajocian is defined as the Lower Oolithe stage with Terebratula perovalis, the level where the plesiosaur specimen was unearthed. GUILLIER (1886) gives a precise description of the fossils discovered in this horizon, quoting especially Ammonites murchisonae (today Ludwigia murchisonae). This species corresponds to the Murchisonae Zone, characteristic of the middle Aalenian (GRADSTEIN 2004). A study of the matrix samples still attached to the plesiosaur specimen confirms this dating. The matrix consists of red sandstone with calcareous cement. This sandstone corresponds to the JUIGNET et al. (1984) description of the Aalenian Tessé Sandstone. We can thus safely conclude that the plesiosaur discovery of Saint-Rémy du Val comes from the Aalenian, and more especially from the middle Aalenian.
Environment/lithology: peritidal; fine-grained sandstone and calcareous sandstone
Size class: macrofossils
Collected in the 1800s
Collection methods: quarrying, mechanical,
• The specimen was first kept in the Museum of Le Mans and has followed the successive moves of the collections. Initially presented in the ‘Musée de la Préfecture’, it was then displayed in the ‘Musée de Tessé’ from 1927 until the beginning of the 1950’s, and finally placed in storage until 1995, date of the opening of the ‘Musée Vert, Musée d’Histoire Naturelle’ of Le Mans. The specimen is now permanently displayed to the public under the collection number MHNLM.2005.16.
Primary reference: P. Vincent, N. Bardet, and N. Morel. 2007. An elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Aalenian (Middle Jurassic) of Western France. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 243(3):363-370 [R. Benson/R. Benson/R. Benson]more details
Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis
PaleoDB collection 140648: authorized by Roger Benson, entered by Roger Benson on 14.03.2013
Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)
Taxonomic list
Reptilia | |
Elasmosauridae indet. Cope 1869 elasmosaur MHNLM.2005.16, the vertebral column includes 23 cervicals, 4 pectorals, 17 dorsals, 3 sacrals, and 11 caudals. Most of the cervicals and some dorsals have been found in articulation (see Fig. 1). Both humeri have been found associated with the vertebrae. Only their proximal extremities are preserved. It can be assumed with safety that the material belongs to the same specimen
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Cephalopoda | |
Ludwigia murchisonae Sowerby 1829 ammonite |