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It's been a while since i posted a proper trip report, so i thought i'd show you guys the spoils from my recent trip to the Lyme Regis area in early April 2023 (collecting from the 3rd to the 9th). I spent the week intensely scouring over the foreshore for any vertebrate fossils that i could, as marine reptiles are my main interest at this particular fossil site. But i found many great invertebrate fossils as well! Especially ammonites and belemnites. These fossils are all Early Jurassic in age, about 200 to 190 million years old, and come from the Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone formations. Most of my collecting time was on the beach between Lyme Regis and Charmouth, but i also visited Monmouth Beach west of Lyme Regis, which spectacularly showcases literally thousands of ammonites embedded within the shore platforms. This trip was my 6th to Lyme Regis overall, so i was hoping to find some vertebrate specimens that i hadn't yet found on previous trips. And things proved very successful! Despite the large amount of people on the beach over the Easter break. Firstly, some shots of the beautiful coastline. It really is an amazing place to collect. This is the beach immediately east of Lyme Regis, looking out at Church Cliffs, the Spittles, and Black Ven. This is midway between Lyme Regis and Charmouth, looking east towards Charmouth. A closer view looking towards Charmouth. This is the famous "ammonite pavement" at Monmouth Beach, west of Lyme Regis, where thousands of ammonites can be observed in the shore platform. This Mary Anning statue has recently been erected near the beach access point east of Lyme Regis (within the last year i believe). People were leaving both flowers and fossils here which is lovely. Now to the fossil finds! Including some "as found" pics of fossils lying on the beach, before i picked them up. Starting with a nice section of marine reptile rib. I suspect this is plesiosaur rather than ichthyosaur. The end of some kind of marine reptile limb or phalange. Possibly the end of a plesiosaur phalanx. This is the bottom half of an ichthyosaur humerus. I've drawn the approximate shape of the part that is missing. A small piece of ichthyosaur rib. This is a new one for me. A fragment of hybodontid shark dorsal spine. Although it is just a piece, these are relatively rare on this coast. Perhaps the quintessential marine reptile bone from this coastline, an ichthyosaur vertebra! As found on the beach and then in my hand. Finding these never gets old. This is the top of an ichthyosaur femur. The natural cross section of the bone shaft preserves amazing detail of its growth rings! A small fragment of ichthyosaur jaw, with several rounded cross sections of worn teeth. Something else i had yet to find from this area: marine reptile coprolites! One is quite beach worn, while the other is rather 'fresh'. No pun intended. As-found pictures of marine reptile bone chunks sitting on the beach. Here's a final summary of all the vertebrate finds from the trip. For a weeks worth of searching i'm very happy with this lot! And of course, the invertebrates! I particularly loved some of the larger ammonites, although carrying them off the beach would require a team of people! And these definitely wouldn't fit in my suitcase returning to Australia... A lovely belemnite. This one is a nautilus! Finally, something i wasn't expecting to find. This is a small crustacean from the Upper Greensand (Cretaceous rather than Jurassic). Overall it was a fantastic trip! And i'm looking forward to returning whenever i can. Thanks for checking out this report

Hello, I just signed up here because I am looking for fossil data on the Cenomanian North African hybodont Distobatus nutiae. Information on it has proven to be elusive and I do not have the means to access the article in which it was first described. I am particularly interested in information relevant to the potential size and diet of this species. While I'm at it, in my research I've also noticed that hybodont reconstructions even of the same genus (such as Hybodus) are variously reconstructed with either one or two pairs of cranial claspers. Is it clear from the fossil data how many pairs of cranial claspers male hybodonts were equipped with? Did it vary at the family, genus, or even species level? Hopefully this is the right area of the forum to seek this information, thanks in advance.

Does anyone know what this is? It looks like a hybodontid shark tooth and if so then can anyone determine a species? It was found at aust Cliff and measures 1cm which quite a lot larger than the hybodontid shark teeth usually found at aust.