The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about 96 miles (154 km), and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in mid-December 2001.
Snakeflies are a group of predatory insects comprising the order Raphidioptera with two extant families: Raphidiidae and Inocelliidae, consisting of roughly 260 species. In the past, the group had a much wider distribution than it does now; snakeflies are found in temperate regions worldwide but are absent from the tropics and the southern hemisphere. They are a relict group and have been considered living fossils, as species from the early Jurassic period closely resemble modern-day species.
The Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre is based in the upstairs floor of a long-disused cement factory on the foreshore of Charmouth in Dorset, England.
Pentacrinites is an extinct genus of crinoids that lived from the Hettangian to the Bathonian of Asia, Europe, North America, and New Zealand. Their stems are pentagonal to star-shaped in cross-section and are the most commonly preserved parts. Pentacrinites are commonly found in the Pentacrinites Bed of the Early Jurassic of Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. Pentacrinites can be recognized by the extensions all around the stem, which are long, unbranching, and of increasing length further down, the very small cup and 5 long freely branching arms.
Promicroceras is an extinct ammonite genus from the upper Sinemurian of Europe, named by Leonard Spath in 1925. Promicroceras is included in the family Eoderoceratidae, which is part of the ammonitid superfamily Eoderoceratoidea.
Black Ven is a cliff in Dorset, England between the towns of Charmouth and Lyme Regis. The cliffs reach a height of 130 metres (430 ft). It is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site. Nearby is an undercliff with an ammonite pavement. The area is popular with tourists due to a number of fossils being found in the area.
The Spittles is an area of coastal cliff in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. It is situated between the settlements of Lyme Regis to the west and Charmouth to the east. It forms part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site designated in 2001. The cliff contains layers of Blue Lias and clay; in wet seasons the clay causes the layers above to become saturated and hence landslips occur, exposing many fossils. Mary Anning famously found an Ichthyosaurus in the Spittles.
Stonebarrow is a coastal hill and sea cliff in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. It is a well known fossil hunting location, close to the coastal village of Charmouth.
Archaeolepis mane is the earliest undisputed lepidopteran fossil. It dates from the Lower Jurassic. It was found in the Charmouth Mudstone Formation, Dorset, United Kingdom.
Palaeontinidae, commonly known as giant cicadas, is an extinct family of cicadomorphs. They existed during the Mesozoic era of Europe, Asia, and South America. The family contains around 30 to 40 genera and around a hundred species.
Necroraphidia is an extinct genus of snakefly in the family Mesoraphidiidae. The genus is solely known from Early Cretaceous, Albian age, fossil amber found in Spain. Currently the genus comprises a single species, Necroraphidia arcuata.
Hondelagia is an extinct genus of snakefly in the Priscaenigmatidae family. The genus has been described three times under the same taxonomy, but was initially described by A. Bode in 1953. It currently contains one species, the Hondelagia reticulata which was described by Bode in 1953. Its wing is 7 centimetres (2.8 in) in length and 3 centimetres (1.2 in) in width. It was found in Hondelage in Braunschweig. The genus was later described in 1992 by F. M. Carpenter and in 2002 by M. S. Engel. The genus' sister taxa is the extinct Priscaenigma. The species has no sister taxa.
Austroraphidia is an extinct genus of snakefly in the family of Baissopteridae. Austroraphidia fossils were described by Willmann in 1994. The genus was later described by Michael S. Engel in 2002. It has five sister taxa; Baissoptera, Cretinocellia, Cretoraphidia, Cretoraphidiopsis and Lugala. Its fossils were found at the Crato MNHN collection in Brazil, often known as the Cretaceous of Brazil. It contains one species, the extinct Austroraphidia brasiliensis, which was described by Nel et al. in 1990. Its average body length is 12.3 centimetres (4.8 in), the forewing is 10.2 by 3.0 centimetres and the hindwing is 9.5 by 2.88 centimetres.
Baissoptera is an extinct genus of snakefly in the Baissopteridae family which was described by Martynova in 1961. Since 1961, it has been described three times; Carpenter in 1992, Ponomarenko in 1988 and Engel in 2002. According to J. Jepson et al. in 2011, the parent taxon is Baissopteridae. Fossils of the species have been found in Brazil, China, Spain and Russia.
Mesoraphidiidae is an extinct family of snakeflies in the suborder Raphidiomorpha. The family lived from the Late Jurassic through the Late Cretaceous and is known from twenty-five genera. Mesoraphidiids have been found as both compression fossils and as inclusions in amber. The family was first proposed in 1925 by the Russian paleoentomologist Andrey Vasilyevich Martynov based on Upper Jurassic fossils recovered in Kazakhstan. The family was expanded in 2002 by the synonymizing of several other proposed snakefly families. The family was divided into three subfamilies and one tribe in a 2011 paper, further clarifying the relationships of the included genera.
The Charmouth Mudstone Formation is a geological formation in England. It preserves fossils dating back to the early part of the Jurassic period (Sinemurian–Pliensbachian). It forms part of the lower Lias Group. It is most prominently exposed at its type locality in cliff section between Lyme Regis and Charmouth but onshore it extends northwards to Market Weighton, Yorkshire, and in the subsurface of the East Midlands Shelf and Wessex Basin. The formation is notable for its fossils, including those of ammonites and marine reptiles and rare dinosaur remains. The formation played a prominent role in the history of early paleontology, with its Lyme Regis-Charmouth exposure being frequented by fossil collectors including Mary Anning.
Liassocupes is an extinct genus of Ommatid beetle from the Jurassic period. The only species is Liassocupes parvus. It is known from compression fossils found at Flatstones near Charmouth in the Sinemurian aged part of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation, Dorset Other species previously assigned to the genus include Liassocupes (?) maculatus described by Whalley in 1985 from the same locality, but this was subsequently suggested by Ponomarenko to belong to either Omma or Tetraphalerus and was considered to belong to the genus Brochocoleus by Kirejtshuk, 2020. Another species Liassocupes (?) giganteus also described by Whalley 1985 from the same locality, was found to be a member of the genus Mimemala in the extinct family Schizocoleidae.
Fulgoridiidae are an extinct family of Jurassic planthoppers. They are the earliest group of planthoppers known, and appear to be a paraphyletic assemblage ancestral to living planthoppers. All currently known species are from Eurasia.
