Data for: Theropod dinosaur diversity of the lower English Wealden: analysis of a tooth-based fauna from the Wadhurst Clay Formation (Lower Cretaceous: Valanginian) via phylogenetic, discriminant and machine learning methods

The Lower Cretaceous Wealden Supergroup of southern England yields a
diverse assemblage of theropod dinosaurs, its taxa being represented by
fragments in addition to some of the most informative associated skeletons
of the European Mesozoic. Spinosaurids, neovenatorid allosauroids,
tyrannosauroids, and dromaeosaurids are among the reported Wealden
Supergroup clades. However, the majority of relevant specimens are from
the Barremian Upper Weald Clay and Wessex formations, and theropod
diversity in the older Berriasian—Valanginian Hastings Group has remained
poorly known, the fragmentary specimens reported thus far remaining
enigmatic both in terms of phylogenetic affinities and sometimes
provenance. A better understanding would be welcome given the paucity of
Berriasian—Valanginian dinosaurs worldwide. Here, we describe an
assemblage of Hastings Group theropod teeth from Valanginian Wadhurst Clay
Formation outcrops of the Ashdown Brickworks locality near Bexhill, East
Sussex. We subjected these teeth to phylogenetic, discriminant, and
machine-learning analyses and found them to include members of
Spinosauridae, Tyrannosauroidea, and Dromaeosauridae, in addition to
others that remain of uncertain affinity within Coelurosauria. The taxa
are distinct from those known from elsewhere in the Wealden Supergroup:
the spinosaurid is not Baryonyx, and the tyrannosauroid is not Eotyrannus,
for example, but we have not named new taxa at this time. Combined with
other findings in the Wadhurst Clay Formation, our study indicates that
Valanginian theropod diversity was comparable to that of younger Wealden
Supergroup units, implying that the “characteristic” theropod components
of Wealden faunas were established early within the deposition of this
famous geological succession.