Whitby Mudstone

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.^[2]

Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.^[3][4] One of the more notable discoveries is the skull of the pterosaur Parapsicephalus, found within the Alum Shale^{[note 2]} Member.^[5]

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[6]	A pterosaur
Gyrosteus	G. mirabilis	Whitby		Multiple partial skeletons[7]	A large chondrosteid acipenseriform fish
Hauffiosaurus	H. longirostris	Whitby-Saltwick	Falciferum Zone	MCZ 1033, a skeleton	A Rhomaleosaurid
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[8]	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).[9]	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
	R. zetlandicus	Loftus (also Lofthouse) Alum Mine	Alum Shale Member	YORYM G503, a partial skeleton[10]
	R. cramptoni	Alum quarry, Kettleness		NMING F8785, a partial skeleton
Plagiophthalmosuchus	P. gracilirostris	Whitby			Teleosaurid
?Theropoda	Indeterminate			Femur, currently lost[11]
Tetanurae	Indeterminate			Incomplete anterior dorsal vertebra[12]	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.^[13]

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in England
• Toarcian turnover
• Toarcian formations

Notes

References

Bibliography

• O'Sullivan, Michael, and David M. Martill. 2017. The taxonomy and systematics of Parapsicephalus purdoni (Reptilia: Pterosauria) from the Lower Jurassic Whitby Mudstone Formation, Whitby, U.K. Historical Biology 29. 1009–1018. Accessed 2020-03-12. doi:10.1080/08912963.2017.1281919
• Weishampel, David B.; Peter Dodson, and Halszka Osmólska (eds.). 2004. The Dinosauria, 2nd edition, 1–880. Berkeley: University of California Press. Accessed 2019-02-21.ISBN 0-520-24209-2

• M. O'Sullivan, D. M. Martill, and D. Groocock. 2013. A pterosaur humerus and scapulocoracoid from the Jurassic Whitby Mudstone Formation, and the evolution of large body size in early pterosaurs. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association
• A. S. Smith and G. J. Dyke. 2008. The skull of the giant predatory pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni: implications for plesiosaur phylogenetics. Naturwissenschaften 95:975-980
• M. J. Benton and M. A. Taylor. 1984. Marine reptiles from the Upper Lias (Lower Toarcian, Lower Jurassic) of the Yorkshire coast. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 44(4):399-429
• F. v. Huene. 1926. The carnivorous Saurischia in the Jura and Cretaceous formations, principally in Europe. Revista del Museo de La Plata 29:35-167
• C. W. Andrews. 1922. Note on the skeleton of a large plesiosaur (Rhomaleosaurus thorntoni, sp. n) from the Upper Lias of Northamptonshire. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 10:407-415
• R. Tate and J. F. Blake. 1876. The Yorkshire Lias 1-475