The Whitby Mudstone is a Toarcian (Early Jurassic; Falciferum-Bifrons in regional chronostratigraphy) geological formation in Yorkshire and Worcestershire, England.Whitby Mudstone at Fossilworks.org 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.Weishampel et al., 2004, pp. 517-607 One of the more notable discoveries is the skull of the pterosaur Parapsicephalus, found within the Alum Shale Member.O'Sullivan & Martill, 2017
Vertebrates Vertebrates of the Whitby Mudstone FormationGenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionAbundanceNotesImagescf. CampylognathoidesIndeterminateWintertonFalciferum ZoneNHMUK PV R 36712, HumerusA pterosaur Gyrosteus G. mirabilis Whitby Multiple partial skeletonsWoodward, A. S. (1889). On the paleontology of sturgeons. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 11(1), 24-32. A large chondrosteid acipenseriform fishHauffiosaurusH. longirostrisWhitby-SaltwickFalciferum ZoneMCZ 1033, a skeletonA PliosauridMicrocleidus M. homalospondylusWhitbyUpper Alum Shale, Hildoceras bifrons ZoneMultiple partial skeletonsMicrocleidid plesiosaurMacrospondylus M. bollensisHarpoceras serpentinum ZoneSeveral partial skeletonsTeleosauridMystriosaurusM. laurillardiWhitbySkull and lower jawsTeleosaurid, formerly considered to be the holotype of "Steneosaurus" breviorParapsicephalusP. purdoniLoftus Alum Shale Quarry, Saltwick Bay (referred material)Upper Alum Shale MemberSingle partial skull lacking the snout (GSM 3166), tentantive referral of a humerus and scapulocoracoid (NHMUK PV R36634).A Rhamphorhynchid pterosaurPelagosaurusP. typusWhitbyAlum ShaleThalattosuchianRhomaleosaurusR. thorntoniKingsthorpe HollowUpperNHMUK PV Rr4853, a single mostly complete skeletonA RhomaleosauridR. zetlandicusLoftus (also Lofthouse) Alum MineAlum Shale MemberYORYM G503, a partial skeletonR. cramptoniAlum quarry, KettlenessNMING F8785, a partial skeletonPlagiophthalmosuchusP. gracilirostrisWhitbyTeleosauridStenopterygiusS. quadriscissusWhitbyA stenopterygiid ichthyosaurTemnodontosaurusTemodontosaurus sp.OakhamFull skeletonIchthyosaur?TheropodaIndeterminateFemur, currently lostTetanuraeIndeterminateIncomplete anterior dorsal vertebraOriginally 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.
See also List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in England Toarcian turnover Toarcian formations
Notes and references Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading 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