First evidence of vampyromorph cephalopod jaw structures from the Sinemurian, Lower Jurassic of Dorset

Abstract

A new specimen of the Coleoidea from the Charmouth Mudstone Formation of the Dorset Coast has been identified as Loligosepia bucklandi (Voltz, 1840). The specimen includes the gladius and jaw fragments, which represent one of few records of its kind, but the head area, arms, hooks and suckers are not discernible. It can be favourably compared to other L. bucklandi fossils in the Natural History Museum in London and the J.F. Jackson Collection in the National Museum Wales in Cardiff. The range of L. bucklandi is determined to be from the Turneri Zone, Brooki Subzone to the Obtusum Zone, Stellare Subzone of the lower Sinemurian, with the new specimen stratigraphically a little older than the precisely located specimens in the J.F. Jackson Collection.