The Strawberry Bank Lagerstätte reveals insights into Early Jurassic life

Abstract

The Strawberry Bank Lagerstätte provides a rich insight into Early Jurassic marine vertebrate life, revealing exquisite anatomical detail of marine reptiles and large pachycormid fishes thanks to exceptional preservation, and especially the uncrushed, 3D nature of the fossils. The site documents a fauna of Early Jurassic nektonic marine animals (five species of fishes, one species of marine crocodilian, two species of ichthyosaurs, cephalopods and crustaceans), but also over 20 species of insects. Unlike other fossil sites of similar age, the 3D preservation at Strawberry Bank provides unique evidence on palatal and braincase structures in the fishes and reptiles. The age of the site is important, documenting a marine ecosystem during recovery from the end-Triassic mass extinction, but also exactly coincident with the height of the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event, a further time of turmoil in evolution.

Convergence and functional evolution of longirostry in crocodylomorphs

“…The fauna consisted of insects flying overhead, and nektonic ammonites, teuthid cephalopods and diverse actinopterygian fishes, including the large and thick‐scaled Pachycormus and the small Leptolepis (Williams et al . ). Other tetrapods discovered at Strawberry Bank are juveniles of two species of ichthyosaur, Stenopterygius triscissus and Hauffiopteryx typicus (Caine & Benton ; Williams et al .…”

“…A), from the Toarcian (Early Jurassic) locality of Strawberry Bank in Ilminster, Somerset, England (Williams et al . ). This fossil is a sub‐adult, with a skull 31 cm in length from the tip of the snout to the end of the retroarticular process (Pierce & Benton ).…”

A Review of Necrotauliids from the Triassic/Jurassic of England (Trichoptera: Necrotauliidae)

“…Alderton/Dumbleton is a well-known locality for insects from the lower Toarcian fish beds ("Fish and insect beds", "Saurian and fish beds") which are found in the Whitby Mudstone Formation [40]. The fish beds are described as laminated limestone nodules overlaying paper shales [41] and are contiguous with the fish beds found at Ilminster [42] being found in the falciferum Ammonite Zone.…”

First report of Leptonectes (Ichthyosauria: Leptonectidae) from the Lower Jurassic (Pliensbachian) of Asturias, northern Spain

“…These findings highlight the fossiliferous potential of the localities of northern Spain, and that the relative low abundance of Pliensbachian ichthyosaurs worldwide may be due to incomplete and/or uneven sampling of Lower Jurassic localities. New discoveries as those reported here, as well as the re-examination of historical collections (e.g., Massare and Lomax, 2016b), and from other Lagerstät-ten such as the one recently described in detail from the Toarcian of Somerset, UK (Williams et al, 2015), will help to provide accurate estimations of palaeodiversity and will also allow to test evolutionary scenarios built on the classical European Lagerstättten.…”