Atychodracon megacephalus

Species

A. megacephalus

Author

(Stutchbury, 1846)

Classification

Sauropterygia
Eosauropterygia
Eusauropterygia
Pistosauria
Plesiosauria
Plesiosauroidea
Rhomaleosauridae
Atychodracon

Age

Hettangian

Type location

Street-on-the-Fosse, a village about 14 km ENE of Street, Somerset, UK

Geological formation

Lowermost beds of the Blue Lias Formation, Lower Jurassic

Type specimen

BRSMG Cb 2335 (destroyed)

Referred material

Smith (2015) provided a list of referred material: LEICT G221.1851 (the neotype specimen) from Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire, UK (Cruickshank, 1994a, 1994b); NMING F10194, a partial skeleton including the skull (but no mandible) from Street (Smith, 2007; Benson et al., 2012); NMING F8749, a partial skeleton including a damaged skull and suffering from pyrite decay, also from Barrow-upon-Soar (Smith, 2007). A complete skeleton from Wilmcote, Warwickshire, UK, sometimes referred to ‘P.’ megacephalus (WARMS G10875, Wright, 1860; Cruickshank, 1994a) represents a new species (Smith, 2007).

The type specimen (BRSMG Cb 2335) was a complete skeleton exposed in ventral view, but it was destroyed during the Blitz. Plaster casts of the skull and limb are housed in the Natural History Museum, London (NHMUK R1309/1310); the Geology Museum, Trinity College Dublin (TCD.47762a, TCD.47762b; Wyse Jackson, 2004) and in the British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham (BGS GSM 118410).