The Rhaetian vertebrates of Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, UK, a comparative study

Rebecca J. Lakin; Christopher J. Duffin; Claudia Hildebrandt; Michael J. Benton

doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2016.02.010

The Rhaetian vertebrates of Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, UK, a comparative study

Rebecca J. Lakin, Christopher J. Duffin, Claudia Hildebrandt, Michael J. Benton

Department of Life Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Microvertebrates are common in the basal bone bed of the Westbury Formation of England, documenting a fauna dominated by fishes that existed at the time of the Rhaetian Transgression, some 206 Myr ago. Two sites near Chipping Sodbury, south Gloucestershire, Barnhill Quarry and Chipping Sodbury railway cutting, show differing faunas. Top predators are the large bony fish Severnichthys and the shark Hybodus cloacinus, which preyed on smaller sharks such as Lissodus and Rhomphaiodon. These fishes in turn may have fed on a mixed diet of other fishes and invertebrates, and Lissodus was a shell crusher. Comparisons of these faunas with others described recently from the Bristol region, and from Devon, indicate remarkable faunal similarities in the Rhaetian basal Westbury Formation bone bed over a wide area, based on a variety of ecological statistics that document species diversities and relative abundances. Only the fauna from the Chipping Sodbury railway cutting differs significantly.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	40-52
Number of pages	13
Journal	Proceedings of the Geologists' Association
Volume	127
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2016.02.010
Publication status	Published - 1 Apr 2016

Funding

We thank curators Debbie Hutchinson and Isla Gladstone for access to BRSMG materials. We thank the late Mike Curtis for his care and enthusiasm in making his collections of Rhaetian microvertebrates. We thank Simon Curtis of Bloor Homes for his assistance in our accessing the Rhaetian outcrop at Barnhill Quarry, and Tom Davies for assistance with microphotography. We thank Elaine Arthurs, of the STEAM Museum of the Great Western Railway, for allowing us access to the museum's archives. This paper arises from an undergraduate summer internship by R.L. in the Bristol Palaeobiology Laboratories, which would not have been possible without the help and support of Lucy Tallis, and Peter and Gwenyth Lakin. Appendix A

Keywords

Actinopterygii
Bristol
Chondrichthyes
Late Triassic
Rhaetian
Rhaetian bone bed
Systematics
Westbury Formation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geology
Palaeontology

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10.1016/j.pgeola.2016.02.010

Cite this

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title = "The Rhaetian vertebrates of Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, UK, a comparative study",

abstract = "Microvertebrates are common in the basal bone bed of the Westbury Formation of England, documenting a fauna dominated by fishes that existed at the time of the Rhaetian Transgression, some 206 Myr ago. Two sites near Chipping Sodbury, south Gloucestershire, Barnhill Quarry and Chipping Sodbury railway cutting, show differing faunas. Top predators are the large bony fish Severnichthys and the shark Hybodus cloacinus, which preyed on smaller sharks such as Lissodus and Rhomphaiodon. These fishes in turn may have fed on a mixed diet of other fishes and invertebrates, and Lissodus was a shell crusher. Comparisons of these faunas with others described recently from the Bristol region, and from Devon, indicate remarkable faunal similarities in the Rhaetian basal Westbury Formation bone bed over a wide area, based on a variety of ecological statistics that document species diversities and relative abundances. Only the fauna from the Chipping Sodbury railway cutting differs significantly.",

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The Rhaetian vertebrates of Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, UK, a comparative study

Abstract

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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