Octopus Bimaculoides - another celebration by Spartacus

[spartacus]

continuing my Cleoniceras Besairiei masterclass & to celebrate my 2nd promotion in not very long, I attach the next image of the "What happened next" series of pictures showing an unpolished Cleoniceras.
The observant amongst you will ask why show the polished item 1st then ?
Easy, I forgot I had it ! It was another prezzy from my Love

I was going to show a multiple specimen with the happy title "threesome deathbed" found & prepared by my goodself on the hallowed ground of Monmouth Beach at Lyme Regis * but I used a flatbed scanner & the bleaching & the lack of perspective makes my preparatory skills look pretty duff so I'll try it again but with my Olympus Digisnapper.

*As I'm imminently going to upsticks to la France I'll let you into a secret.
when you read reports on where's best for fossils in Lyme Regis it will always say Church Cliffs, Black Ven or Charmouth - poo !
I have never found nothing at any of them venues worthy of note, my suspicions are that at LR end is a chip shop & at Charmouth end is a cafe with sticky buns & ice cream ! Like spiders & flies !
Down Monmoth beach way there is nowt but beach & fossiliferous material you can only dream about, but you've gotta get down & dirty & march as far as you can & make sure you know what the tide is doing or you're gonna get wet or be a gonna ! Being rockier lots of really good stuff gets retained on the beach & it's rocky complexion frightens those who'd prefer a sticky bun instead.
If you're lucky you can snap the pliosaurs still frolicking in the surf.
Happy hunting

 

[Phil]

Got there in the end. Looked up a few details for you.

Cleoniceras , a true ammonite, is grouped with the Family Cleoniceratidae, of the Super-family Desmocerataceae. The Desmocerataceae were a major super-family that emerged in the early Cretaceous, possibly somewhere in the Valanginian (about 135mya) as far as I can find out. They were also one of the last ammonoid groups in existance and examples have been found right up at the K-T event.

Cleoniceras besairei, found in the Ambarimaninga Formation in Madagascar, is used as a stratigraphic marker in the late early Albian period of the Cretaceous corresponding to the European Cleoniceras floridum, I guess about 110-109 mya. Stratigraphically it falls just under the Hoplites dentatus zone making it a couple of million years older than the earliest stuff I find at Folkestone. As for a reference, you might want to pop down to WHSmiths and pick up this article:

Collignon, M. 1949. Research on Albian Faunas of Madagascar. I Gault of Ambarimaninga (Madagascar). Gouvemernement G 3rd N 3rd ral of Madagascar and D 3rd pendances, Annals of G 3rd ologic of the 86?88, Mines Inspectorate 16; Pl. XVIII, fig. 1, 1a-b, 2, with-B, 3, á; Pl. XXI, fig. 7.

Actually your Cleoniceras looks very much akin to this example of Desmoceras latidorsatum that I obtained in the E-bay formations a short while ago. This came from Madagascar too and is about the same date, possibly a couple of million years later. These are so similar I'm sure one these specimens has been misnamed, but to be honest, I don't know which one.

Love the pliosaur. Maybe you should post that on a crypto-zoology site, you might cause a stir! I've only been to Lyme Regis once, and didn't find a sausage. Perhaps the locals keep the best beds secret; afterall, the place is probably crawling with fossil hunters in summer. :?

 

[spartacus]

Cheers Phil, all I ever needed to know !!
I'll stash that in my info directory. Most of my precious is unidentified as I tend to be a "skimmer" when it comes to gleaning info so expect more tests to come.

Had to bail out on the Collignon M. 1949 report as I was late out of office
& Smith's was shut. Bummer as I could see a copy on the shelf next to Flintknap Pro Weekly.
I'm going to have to visit Madagascar now just so I can say I've been to
Ambarimaninga !
I did attempt some research myself & got to Cleoniceras besairiei & I do recall seeing Desmoceras latidorsatum listed as a very close relative the main difference Desmoceras being broader in the beam. Don't confuse it with a Desmocedici.
My two are also of the Ebay formation as you probably deduced.

As regards pliosaurs, the copyright owner may object to me plastering the image about ! sad, selfish species, homo sapiens

Lyme Regis is definitely well picked over but most are casual daytrippers who'd rather stay clean & you'd probably get buried by the locals if anything major was making an appearance but I've always had good results (by my standards).
As to your own lack of results (I feel I'm being prompted a little )
check out the shales-with-pork next time in the Arietites Bockwursti Zone.
or you could try for cyborg remains in the Arnie-oceras Terminatum Zone
Take your pick !