The Westbury Formation is a geological formation in England, one of the Penarth Group. It dates back to the Rhaetian.[1] The formation is named after the village of Westbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire.[2] The remains of a giant shastasaurid and dinosaurs are known from the formation.[3][4]
| Westbury Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Unit of | Penarth Group |
| Underlies | Lilstock Formation |
| Overlies | Blue Anchor Formation |
| Thickness | 5-10 m |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Mudstone, Shale |
| Other | Limestone, Sandstone |
| Location | |
| Region | Europe |
| Country |  UK |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Westbury-on-Severn |
Vertebrate fauna
edit| Vertebrates reported from the Westbury Formation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
| Avalonianus[5] | A. sanfordi[5] | Wedmore Hill[5] | "Several now lost teeth."[5] | |||
|
C. borealis[1] |
Westbury-on-Severn[6] |
"Vertebrae, pubis, ischium, femur, tibia, phalanges, adult."[7] |
 | |||
| Ichthyotitan[4] | I. severnensis[4] | Blue Anchor and Lilstock[4] | Two partial surangulars[3] | Possibly one of the largest marine reptiles | ||
| Picrodon[5] | P. herveyi[5] | Wedmore Hill[5] | "Tooth."[5] | |||
| Shastasauridae[3] | Indeterminate[3] | Aust[3] | "Three partial specimens."[3] | |||
| Pachystropheus[8] | Several partial postcranial skeletons | A small thalattosaurian marine reptile, youngest known thalattosaur | ||||
| Lissodus[8] | L. minimus | A hybodont shark | ||||
| Saurichthys[8] | A pike or gar-like predatory fish | |||||
| Sargodon[8] | A dapediiform fish | |||||
| Gyrolepis[8] | A ray-finned fish | |||||
| Birgeria[8] | A large predatory fish |  | ||||
| Ceratodus[8] | A lungfish | |||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Triassic, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 521–525. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
- ^ The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details: Westbury Formation
- ^ a b c d e f Lomax, Dean R.; De la Salle, Paul; Massare, Judy A.; Gallois, Ramues (2018-04-09). Wong, William Oki (ed.). "A giant Late Triassic ichthyosaur from the UK and a reinterpretation of the Aust Cliff 'dinosaurian' bones". PLOS ONE. 13 (4): e0194742. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1394742L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0194742. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 5890986. PMID 29630618.
- ^ a b c d Lomax, D. R.; de la Salle, P.; Perillo, M.; Reynolds, J.; Reynolds, R.; Waldron, J. F. (2024). "The last giants: New evidence for giant Late Triassic (Rhaetian) ichthyosaurs from the UK". PLOS ONE. 19 (4). e0300289. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0300289. PMC 11023487.
- ^ a b c d e f g h H. G. Seeley. (1898). On large terrestrial saurians from the Rhaetic Beds of Wedmore Hill, described as Avalonia sanfordi and Picrodon herveyi. Geological Magazine, decade 4 5:1-6
- ^ Galton, P. M. (1985). Notes on the Melanorosauridae, a family of large prosauropod dinosaurs (Saurischia: Sauropodomorpha). Geobios, 18(5), 671-676.
- ^ "Table 12.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 234.
- ^ a b c d e f g Quinn, Jacob G.; Matheau-Raven, Evangelos R.; Whiteside, David I.; Marshall, John E. A.; Hutchinson, Deborah J.; Benton, Michael J. (2024-06-04). "The relationships and paleoecology of Pachystropheus rhaeticus , an enigmatic latest Triassic marine reptile (Diapsida: Thalattosauria)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2350408. ISSN 0272-4634.