Elgin Reptiles

Elgin Reptiles is the name given to the Permian and Triassic fossils found in the sandstone deposits in and around the town of Elgin, in Moray, Scotland. They are of great historical and scientific importance, and many of the specimens are housed in the Elgin Museum, and some in the Hunterian in Glasgow, and the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The Elgin Reptiles include the dinosauroform Saltopus elginensis, the dicynodont Gordonia, and the pareiasaur Elginia. There are also many footprints and tail-drags associated with the same Permian and Triassic sandstone deposits.

The sandstone in the Elgin area was originally quarried for building materials. The quarries were where the first reptile fossils were found, and they have continued to yield fossils to this day. The first Elgin Reptile was discovered in 1844, but because it was only a few scales scientists of the time believed it was an Old Red Sandstone fish fossil, which were relatively well-known from sites across Northern Scotland. In 1851 a second indisputably reptilian fossil was found. Fossils of Gordonia were first found by Scottish naturalist Ramsay Heatley Traquair in 1885 and E.T. Newton described several key fossil specimens.

Elgin Museum is Scotland's oldest independent museum. The Elgin Reptiles, footprints, and older fish fossils held by the Elgin Museum are “recognised” by the Scottish Government as a Collection of National Significance due to the major part played by the Museum’s founders and associated geologists in helping answer questions about geological succession that challenged 19th century naturalists. The Museum mas many original papers, including letters from Hugh Miller, and correspondence with Charles Darwin.

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