Theropod dinosaur diversity and palaeobiology in the Wealden Group (Early Cretaceous) of England: evidence from a previously undescribed tibia
A robust, partial right tibia of a theropod dinosaur (Natural History Museum London collections, BMNH R9385) is described for the first time. The specimen was collected at Hastings, Sussex (England) in the last century, and is among the oldest known of English Wealden Group theropods. It represents a tetanuran theropod that may have been about 3 m in total length, and is distinct from all currently known Wealden theropods for which tibiae have been described. The present specimen is significant palaeobiologically in exhibiting a series of theropod tooth marks on its caudal surface, indicating predation or scavenging by another theropod.
A definitive allosauroid (Dinosauria; Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of East Sussex
A partial proximal tibia (estimated total length of tibia 550 mm) from a large theropod was discovered in the Samuel Beckles collection of Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, East Sussex. It was probably collected from the Hastings Group of the Wealden Supergroup. Derived character states show that it can be referred to the Allosauroidea but it is more robust than are the tibiae of Neovenator salerii , the only well-known Wealden allosauroid, and the two differ in the morphology of the fibular crest, cnemial crest and proximal articular condyles. The Hastings specimen, therefore, probably belongs to another Wealden allosauroid, possibly Becklespinax altispinax (a taxon based on dorsal vertebrae). Large theropod material from the Hastings Group has been reported before but generally lacks characters that allow it to be identified beyond Tetanurae.
Palaeontological Evidence for the Age of the English Wealden
Abstract Plant microspores and megaspores are used to correlate the separate occurrences of the English Wealden with the marine Lower Cretaceous of Lincolnshire and with a Netherlands succession. The paper is a preliminary statement on the representation of the Continental stages in the English Wealden.