Whitby Mudstone

The Whitby Mudstone is a Toarcian (Early Jurassic; Falciferum-Bifrons in regional chronostratigraphy) geological formation in Yorkshire and Worcestershire, England. The formation, part of the Lias Group, is present in the Cleveland and Worcester Basins and the East Midlands Shelf.

Lithology

The formation consists of mudstone and siltstone, partly laminated and bituminous, medium to dark grey in colour, with rare fine grained calcareous sandstone beds. Limestone and phosphatic nodules are present at some levels.

Fossil content

Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus. One of the more notable discoveries is the skull of the pterosaur Parapsicephalus, found within the Alum Shale Member.

Vertebrates

Vertebrates of the Whitby Mudstone Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Abundance	Notes	Images
cf. Campylognathoides	Indeterminate	Winterton	Falciferum Zone	NHMUK PV R 36712, Humerus	A pterosaur
Gyrosteus	G. mirabilis	Whitby		Multiple partial skeletons	A large chondrosteid acipenseriform fish
Hauffiosaurus	H. longirostris	Whitby-Saltwick	Falciferum Zone	MCZ 1033, a skeleton	A Pliosaurid
Microcleidus	M. homalospondylus	Whitby	Upper Alum Shale, Hildoceras bifrons Zone	Multiple partial skeletons	Microcleidid plesiosaur
Macrospondylus	M. bollensis		Harpoceras serpentinum Zone	Several partial skeletons	Teleosaurid
Mystriosaurus	M. laurillardi	Whitby		Skull and lower jaws	Teleosaurid, formerly considered to be the holotype of "Steneosaurus" brevior
Parapsicephalus	P. purdoni	Loftus Alum Shale Quarry, Saltwick Bay (referred material)	Upper Alum Shale Member	Single partial skull lacking the snout (GSM 3166), tentantive referral of a humerus and scapulocoracoid (NHMUK PV R36634).	A Rhamphorhynchid pterosaur
Pelagosaurus	P. typus	Whitby	Alum Shale		Thalattosuchian
Rhomaleosaurus	R. thorntoni	Kingsthorpe Hollow	Upper	NHMUK PV Rr4853, a single mostly complete skeleton	A Rhomaleosaurid	Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni holotype cast
R. zetlandicus	Loftus (also Lofthouse) Alum Mine	Alum Shale Member	YORYM G503, a partial skeleton
R. cramptoni	Alum quarry, Kettleness		NMING F8785, a partial skeleton
Plagiophthalmosuchus	P. gracilirostris	Whitby			Teleosaurid
Stenopterygius	S. quadriscissus	Whitby			A stenopterygiid ichthyosaur
Temnodontosaurus	Temodontosaurus sp.	Oakham		Full skeleton	Ichthyosaur
?Theropoda	Indeterminate			Femur, currently lost
Tetanurae	Indeterminate			Incomplete anterior dorsal vertebra	Originally referred to Streptospondylus cuvieri.

Insects

Insect compression fossils are known from nodules found on Alderton Hill near Alderton and Dumbleton in Gloucestershire, including Alderton Hill Quarry and other nearby localities.

Notes and references

Notes

Bibliography

O'Sullivan, Michael; Martill, David M. (2017). (PDF). Historical Biology. 29 (8): 1009–1018. Bibcode:. doi:.
Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka, eds. (2004). (2nded.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp.1–880. ISBN0-520-24209-2.