A list of prehistoric and extant species whose fossils have been found in the London Clay, which underlies large areas of southeast England.
Plant fossils, especially seeds and fruits, are found in abundance and have been collected from the London Clay for almost 300 years.[1] Some 350 named species of plant have been found, making the London Clay flora one of the world's most diverse for fossil seeds and fruits.[2] The flora includes plant types found today in tropical forests of Asia and demonstrates the much warmer climate of the Eocene epoch, with plants such as Nypa (Nipah palms) and other palms being frequently encountered. The following plants list is incomplete and is based on the research by Marjorie Chandler.[1] and research works done by the paleobotanist Steven R. Manchester[3] and by professor of plant palaeobiology Margaret Collinson.[4]
†Spondiaecarpon operculatum - according to several botanists, the pyritized specimens, originally described as Spondiaecarpon operculatum, represent locule casts of Torricellia sp.
Animal fossils include bivalves, gastropods, nautilus, worm tubes, brittle stars and starfish, crabs, lobsters, fish (including shark and ray teeth), reptiles (particularly turtles), and a large diversity of birds. A few mammal remains have also been recorded. Preservation varies; articulated skeletons are generally rare. Of fish, isolated teeth are very frequent. Bird bones are not infrequently encountered compared to other lagerstätten, but usually occur as single bones and are often broken.
The following fauna species list follows Clouter (2007).[6]
^ abChandler, M.E.J. 1961. The lower Tertiary floras of southern England I. Palaeocene floras, London Clay flora. London: British Museum (Natural History).
^Collinson, M. (1983). Fossil plants of the London Clay. The Palaeontological Association.
^Poole, I., K.L. Davies and H.P. Wilkinson 2002. A review of the platanaceous woods from the Eocene paratropical rainforest of southeast England. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 139: 181–191.