The Pleistocene Vertebrate Faunas of West Runton, Norfolk, England

West Runton, on the Norfolk coast, is the most important single fossil vertebrate locality of the Cromer Forest Bed Formation. The Lower Pleistocene (Pre-Pastonian and Pastonian stages) marine ’crags’ have yielded a sparse fauna including Mammuthus meridionalis, Mimomys pliocaenicus, and M. blanci. The organic fluvial deposits of the West Runton Freshwater Bed, Cromerian type site, have produced an exceptionally rich early Middle Pleistocene vertebrate assemblage, comprising: 8 fish taxa; 5 amphibians; 3 reptiles; several birds; and 43 mammals. The mammals include: voles Mimomys savini and and Pliomys episcopalis; extinct beaver Trogontherium cuvieri; monkey Macaca sylvanus, mammoth Mammuthus cf. meridionalis, rhinoceros Dicerorhinus etruscus, and giant deer Megaloceros verticornis. Pollen and plant macrofossils show that this fauna lived in association with regional temperate forest in the first half of the temperate stage.