The Cambridge Greensand is a geological unit in England whose strata are earliest Cenomanian in age.[ 1] It lies above the erosive contact between the Gault Formation and the Chalk Group in the vicinity of Cambridgeshire , and technically forms the lowest member bed of the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation.[ 2] It is a remanié deposit, containing reworked fossils of late Albian age, including those of dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
The lithology is made out of glauconitic marl , described as a "chalk mud", containing abundant ostracod , coccolith and foram remains, with a concentration of phosphatic nodules and bones at the base.[ 1] [ 2]
Vertebrate paleofauna [ edit ]
Birds
Genus
Species
Locality
Material
Notes
Images
Enaliornis
E. barrette
Braincases, vertebrae, pelvis [and] limb elements[ 3]
This genus is the oldest known hesperornithine
E sedgwicki
Hindlimb elements[ 3]
E. seeleyi
Assorted cranial and postcranial elements
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Ornithischians
Genus
Species
Locality
Material
Notes
Images
Anoplosaurus
A. curtonotus
"Partial postcranium"[ 4]
A. major
"Cervical vertebrae."[ 4] "Vertebrae."[ 5]
Acanthopholis
A. eucercus
"[Two] caudal centra."[ 4]
Nomen dubium
A. platypus
"Phalanx, caudal centra."[ 4]
Nomen dubium
A. macrocercus
"Osteoderms."[ 4] "Vertebrae, fragmentary skeleton elements."[ 5]
Reassigned to Syngonosaurus
A. stereocercus
"Osteoderms."[ 4] "Vertebrae."[ 5]
Nomen dubium
Eucercosaurus
E. tanyspondylus
"Vertebrae."[ 4]
Trachodon
T. cantabrigiensis
"Dentary tooth."[ 6]
Nomen dubium
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Lepidosauria
Genus
Species
Locality
Material
Notes
Images
Patricosaurus
P. merocratus [ 15]
Chimeric specimen
^ a b Hart, Malcolm B.; Fox, Lyndsey R. (2020). "Micropalaeontology and stratigraphical setting of the Cambridge Greensand" . Geological Society, London, Special Publications . 498 (1): 147–163. Bibcode :2020GSLSP.498..147H . doi :10.1144/SP498-2018-144 . ISSN 0305-8719 . S2CID 210304478 .
^ a b Cambridge Greensand at BGS
^ a b "Table 11.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 215.
^ a b c d e f g "Table 17.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 367.
^ a b c "Table 19.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 417.
^ "Table 20.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 443.
^ "Table 13.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 270.
^ a b Holgado, Borja (2021). "On the validity of the genus Amblydectes Hooley 1914 (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) and the presence of Tropeognathinae in the Cambridge Greensand" . Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências . 93 (suppl 2). doi :10.1590/0001-3765202120201658 . ISSN 1678-2690 .
^ Smith, Roy E.; Ibrahim, Nizar; Longrich, Nicholas; Unwin, David M.; Jacobs, Megan L.; Williams, Cariad J.; Zouhri, Samir; Martill, David M. (September 2023). "The pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco" . PalZ . 97 (3): 519–568. Bibcode :2023PalZ...97..519S . doi :10.1007/s12542-022-00642-6 . ISSN 0031-0220 .
^ Taissa Rodrigues & Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner (2013). "Taxonomic review of the Ornithocheirus complex (Pterosauria) from the Cretaceous of England" . ZooKeys (308): 1–112. Bibcode :2013ZooK..308....1R . doi :10.3897/zookeys.308.5559 . PMC 3689139 . PMID 23794925 .
^ Unwin D.M., 2001, "An overview of the pterosaur assemblage from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of Eastern England", Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin , Geowissenschaftliche Reihe 4: 189–221
^ Averianov A.O. (2012). "Ornithostoma sedgwicki – valid taxon of azhdarchoid pterosaurs". Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS . 316 (1): 40–49. doi :10.31610/trudyzin/2012.316.1.40 .
^ a b Smith, Roy E.; Martill, David M.; Unwin, David M.; Steel, Lorna (February 2021). "Edentulous pterosaurs from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of eastern England with a review of Ornithostoma Seeley, 1871" . Proceedings of the Geologists' Association . 132 (1): 110–126. Bibcode :2021PrGA..132..110S . doi :10.1016/j.pgeola.2020.10.004 .
^ Valentin Fischer; Nathalie Bardet; Myette Guiomar & Pascal Godefroit (2014). "High Diversity in Cretaceous Ichthyosaurs from Europe Prior to Their Extinction" . PLOS ONE . 9 (1): e84709. Bibcode :2014PLoSO...984709F . doi :10.1371/journal.pone.0084709 . PMC 3897400 . PMID 24465427 .
^ P. M. Barrett and S. E. Evans. 2002. A reassessment of the Early Cretaceous reptile 'Patricosaurus merocratus' Seeley from the Cambridge Greensand, Cambridgeshire, UK. Cretaceous Research 23:231-240
^ C. W. Wright and W. J. Kennedy. 1979. Origin and evolution of the Cretaceous micromorph ammonite family Flickiidae. Palaeontology 22:685-704