Elgin Reptiles

Elgin Reptiles is the name given to the

History

The sandstone in the Elgin area was originally quarried for building materials. The quarries were where the first reptile fossils were found, and they have continued to yield fossils to this day.[5] The first Elgin Reptile was discovered in 1844, but because it was only a few scales scientists of the time believed it was an

Elgin Museum is Scotland's oldest independent museum.[6] The Elgin Reptiles, footprints, and older fish fossils held by the Elgin Museum are “recognised” by the Scottish Government as a Collection of National Significance due to the major part played by the Museum’s founders and associated geologists in helping answer questions about geological succession that challenged 19th century naturalists. The Museum has many original papers, including letters from Hugh Miller, and correspondence with Charles Darwin.^[3]

Geological background

The land North of Elgin consists of fragments of Permian, Triassic and Jurassic bedrocks on the edge of the Moray Firth Basin, south of the Great Glen Fault. The Elgin Reptiles come from the Permian and Triassic rocks. These are called the Hopeman Sandstone Formation and the Burghead Sandstone Formation, both part of the New Red Sandstone Supergroup.^[7] Some marine reptiles have been found in a glacial erratic of Jurassic strata. Most of the sandstones are wind-blown desert dune deposits, but there are some river deposits and the later Jurassic deposits include mudstones.^[8] These rocks overly much older Devonian lake deposits from Lake Orcadie. The intervening Carboniferous sediments were eroded before the Permian deposition, leaving a 100 million year gap in the stratigraphy. This unusual sequence of rocks confused 19th century geologists for many years. The Moray Firth Basin has been exploited for offshore oil deposits. Scotland lay at about 20 degrees North in the Late Permian-Early Triassic, and was moving North.

) for its fossils.

Fossils

Many of the Elgin Reptile fossils contain no actual bone: they are often voids in the sandstone that used to contain bone, but are now virtually empty. This made them difficult to identify and study. In the 19th century until the late 20th century, the most common method to explore them was to infill the void, then break the surrounding rock.

The reptiles of Cutties Hillock, Quarrywood and the Hopeman Sandstones are Late Permian, around 250 million years old, while most other reptile fossils are found in the early Triassic rocks of Lossiemouth, Spynie and Findrassie, and are about 220 million years old.^[5] The fossils are “recognised” by the Scottish Government as a Collection of National Significance.^[3] Many of the type and significant specimens are on display, with more fossils and archives in the collection at Elgin Museum, available for study and research.

More recent fossil discoveries from Elgin have been footprints, with over 200 found prior to 1997.

Archosaurs

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Elgin Reptiles: Archosaurs
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Ornithosuchus O. woodwardi Newton, 1894	Triassic	Lossiemouth, Spynie, and Findrassie Scotland	A 1.2-metre-long (3.9 ft) extinct genus of pseudosuchian originally thought to be the ancestor to carnosaurian dinosaurs, but now known to be more closely related to crocodilians than to dinosaurs.
Stagonolepis S. robertsoni Agassiz, 1844	Triassic	Lossiemouth, Spynie, and Findrassie Scotland	A quadrupedal armoured aetosaur, around 2 m long, with a very small head for its size (25 cm). It had a beak-like face that arched upwards, and is believed to have used this to uproot plants in a similar manner to a modern pig. The peg-like molar teeth would have been suitable for chewing tough vegetation.
Scleromochlus S. taylori Woodward, 1907	Triassic	Lossiemouth, Scotland	This small cursorial archosaur (18 cm long) is of uncertain Pterosauria, or a basal member of Avemetatarsalia that lies outside of Ornithodira.
Erpetosuchus E. granti Newton, 1894	Triassic	Lossiemouth, Scotland	A pseudosuchian, its phylogenetic position is debated.
Saltopus S. elginensis Newton, 1894	Triassic	Lossiemouth, Scotland	Was thought to be Scotland's earliest dinosaur, but research by Professor M. Benton instead identified it as dinosauriform – a forerunner of the dinosaurs.[3][1]

†Rhynchosaurs

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Elgin Reptiles: Rhynchosaurs
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Hyperodapedon	Triassic	Lossiemouth and Spynie, Scotland	A stocky animal around 1.3 metres long, with a beak and heavy teeth suggesting a herbivorous diet.

Sphenodontids

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Elgin Reptiles: Sphenodontids
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Brachyrhinodon	Triassic	Lossiemouth, Scotland	It is related to the extant tuatara.

†Procolophonids

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Elgin Reptiles: Procolophonids
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Leptopleuron L. lacertinum Owen, 1851	Triassic	Lossiemouth and Spynie, Scotland	First described by Sir Richard Owen , it was a small, lizard-like animal (27 cm) with a long tail.

†Dicynodonts

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Elgin Reptiles: Dicynodonts
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Gordonia G. traquairi Newton, 1893	Permian	Cutties Hillock, Scotland	An extinct therapsid. It was formerly assigned to the wastebasket taxon Dicynodon as Dicynodon traquairi. Re-study of the specimen using CT-scanning has allowed this taxon to be more formally described and it was renamed Gordonia traquairi.[4]
Geikia G. elginensis Newton, 1893	Permian	Cutties Hillock, Scotland	An extinct therapsid notable for its unusual square-shaped skull.

†Pareiasaurs

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Elgin Reptiles: pareiasaurs
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Elginia E. mirabilis Newton, 1893	Permian	Cutties Hillock, Scotland	This animal's distinctive skull ornamentation make it instantly recognisable. It has recently been incorporated into the logo for the vertebrate fossil research and preservation group, Pal Alba.[10]

References