A Scottish pterosaur in London: the first record of Pterosauria from the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Eathie (Ross and Cromarty), Scotland

Abstract

A pterosaur wing phalange from the Kimmeridgian of Eathie (Ross and Cromarty) is identified as the first pterosaur to have been collected in Scotland. The specimen was acquired by the British Museum (Natural History) in 1888, but an old collector's label gives the date of collection as 1850. The handwriting matches that of Charles W. Peach (1800–1886), who later became better known for his fossil fish and plant collections, which still exist in the Natural History Museum, London, and other museums. Peach collected this pterosaur specimen during his first year of working in Scotland, and it was probably one of his earliest finds of north of the border. Pterosaur remains are exceptionally rare in Scotland and otherwise unknown from this particular site, so this newly recognised specimen is a significant addition to the Scottish fossil record. It is also among the earliest UK pterosaur finds, post-dating Mary Anning's discovery of Dimorphodon by just over two decades.

Keywords::

• Pterosauria
• wing
• phalange
• Kimmeridge Clay Formation
• Kimmeridgian
• Eathie

Acknowledgements

Within the Department of Earth Sciences (NHMUK), the authors thank Paul Barrett for discussions on Scottish pterosaur material, Peta Hayes and Zerina Johansen for making Charles W. Peach's fossil plant and fish specimens available, and Phil Palmer for identifying the ammonite on NHMUK PV R1362. The authors also thank Phil Hurst (NHMUK Image Resources) for photography. Steve Etches, Heather Middleton and Andrew Wass granted access to their collections of Kimmeridge Clay pterosaur material. The authors also thank Mike Taylor, Sarah Stewart and Stig Walsh (National Museums of Scotland) and Lyall Anderson (then at University of Cambridge) for helpful discussions about Eathie, Charles W. Peach and Frederick Harford. The authors are grateful to David Martill for his suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript prior to submission, but an anonymous reviewer did an even more thorough job.

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected]