Vertebrate microremains from the presumed earliest Carboniferous of the Mansfield Basin,Victoria

The Agnostida are the most important part of the fauna of the Abbey Shales, which is the best-known middle St David's (Middle Cambrian) sequence in Britain. Revision of Illing's (1916) collections allows a correlation of the Paradoxides hicksii fauna with Westergaard's (1946) Ptychagnostus atavus-Tomagnostus fissus Zone, and the Paradoxides davidis fauna with Westergaard's Hypagnostus parvifrons Zone and Ptychagnostus punctuosus Zone (based on the Swedish sequence). A Metadiscus sp. is described. Six species of Condylopygidae are discussed, of which three show a pygidial ‘fringe’. Eleven species of Quadragnostinae, three of Ptychagnostinae (one showing a hypostome), and four of Tomagnostinae (including young growth-stages) are illustrated or discussed. Two species of Diplagnostidae, one species of Phalacroma and two of Phalagnostus are illustrated.     

Late Middle Cambrian trilobites from St Valentines Peak and Native Track Tier,northwestern Tasmania

Late Middle Cambrian trilobites are described from two localities in northwestern Tasmania. Twenty-four trilobite taxa are documented. The 15 agnostoid species include Paraclavagnostus longus sp. nov. which is placed in the Utagnostinae, a new subfamily of the Clavagnostidae. The nine polymeroid species include a new member of the Rhyssometopidae, Tasmana truncata gen. et sp. nov. Three other new species of polymeroids are erected: Fuchouia tasmaniensis, Nepea delicata and Nepea hellyeri. Both faunas correlate with the Lejopyge laevigata Zone on the northern Australia biostratigraphic scale, possibly with the L. laevigata II Zone. When compared with Hunan, China, correlation is with the upper part of the Lejopyge laevigata Zone, and particularly with the lower part of the Proagnostus bulbus Zone.     

Early Silurian (Llandovery) trilobites from the Cotton Formation,near Forbes,New South Wales,Australia

A trilobite fauna from the upper part of the Cotton Formation (late Llandovery, Spirograptus turriculatus Zone) in central west New South Wales includes the new species Raphiophorus sandfordi, Odontopleura (Sinespinaspis) markhami and Aulacopleura pogsoni. Species of Odontopleura and Aulacopleura have not previously been documented in Australasia. The association of these genera is observed in offshore biofacies in the Llandovery/Wenlock on several palaeocontinents. Affinities of the species are with congeners from Bohemia and northwestern Canada (Odontopleura, Aulacopleura) and Tarim and South China (Aulacopleura, Raphiophorus).     

Late Carboniferous marine invertebrate zones of eastern Australia

Brachiopods of the Marginirugus barringtonensis and Levispustula levis Zones comprise the youngest of three major Carboniferous biostratigraphic units in eastern Australia. The remarkable change in the composition of marine invertebrates between the second and third of these units, a transition that only two brachiopod species are known to survive, has been attributed to the isolation of eastern Australia and to a drop in temperature. The Marginirugus barringtonensis and Levipustula levis Zones are redefined from reference sections in the Myall region, N.S.W.; the L. levis Zone now includes the Syringothyris bifida Zone of Campbell (1961). Faunal sequences show that these two zones are closely related and that there is no hiatus between them, as formerly proposed by McKellar (1965). Conodonts identified by Mr. D. Crane indicate a late Viséan to early Namurian age for the Marginirugus barringtonensis Zone, and an age of early Namurian for the base of the Levipustula levis Zone; brachiopod evidence indicates that the L. levis Zone extends into the Westphalian. The younger Auriculispina levis Zone from the Yarrol Basin may be coeval with the Trigonotreta campbelli Zone from N.S.W. Faunas from both the L. levis and A. levis Zones are present in Argentina and many species from the L. levis Zone have affinities with forms from the Baikal region, U.S.S.R. Correlations based on the zones have eliminated the need for a hiatus between the Branch Creek and Baywulla Formations in the Yarrol Basin.

Taxa described from the Marginirugus barringtonensis and Levipustula levis Zones in the Myall region include Yagonia gibberensis Roberts gen. et sp. nov., Bulahdelia myallensis Roberts gen. et sp. nov., Alispirifer yagonensis Thompson sp. nov., A. alatus Thompson sp. nov., Licharewia bootiensis Thompson sp. nov., Spirifer pristinus (Maxwell), Spiriferi sp., Neospirifer campbelli Maxwell and N. senilis Maxwell.     

Palaeontology of the Cerros Bayos section,Roca Formation (Danian), La Pampa Province,Argentina

Palynofloras from an outlier of Tertiary sediments in the One Tree Hill area north of Adelaide are nonmarine and correlate with similar assemblages from Middle Eocene North Maslin Sands from Maslin Bay and Golden Grove. Although there are similarities with time-equivalent Lower Nothofagidites asperus Zone palynofloras in the Gippsland Basin, a number of species in the South Australian palynofloras do not extend below the Late Eocene in the Gippsland sequences. This indicates earlier appearances for these species in southcentral Australia. The sediments overlie a highly weathered bedrock palaeosurface, indicating that a phase of significant weathering occurred prior to the Middle Eocene. A number of selected taxa are illustrated and their distribution in the palynofloras is discussed. Two new species, Proteacidites mildenhallii and Proteacidites parrawirrensis, are described and one species, Rhoipites byfieldensis, is emended.     

Early Darriwilian graptolites from central and western China

Taxonomic restudy of Early Darriwilian graptolites from the Yangtze region, Chiadam and Alxa, has enabled a precise correlation of the Undulograptus austrodentatus Zone (including two subzones) across the three regions, and with the Darriwilian GSSP at Huangnitang in the Jiangshan-Changshan-Yushan (JYC) area. Based on specimens from 17 localities in the Yangtze region, the Exigraptus clavus and Undulograptus austrodentatus zones are recognised as replacements respectively of the Undulograptus sinodentatus (Lower) and U. austrodentatus (Upper) zones of Mu et al. (1979). The U. sinicus Subzone, the upper subzone of the U. austrodentatus Zone, is also recognised from the Sichuan-Guizhou area of the Yangtze region. Two subzones of the U. austrodentatus Zone have also been identified from the Chiadam region with more diverse graptolite fauna. The U. austrodentatus Zone fauna also occurs in the Alxa region. A general pattern of changing graptolite diversity from platform through basinal slope to deep basin is proposed, based on early Darriwilian bio- and lithofacies changes from the Yangtze Platform through the Jiangnan belt to the Zhujiang basin. The graptolite diversity increased with water depth and more off-shore setting. Key graptolite species are illustrated.     

The Late Palaeozoic brachiopod genus Jakutoproductus Kashirtsev 1959 and the Jakutoproductus verchoyanicus Zone,northern Yukon Territory,Canada

Shi, Guang R., 1994:03:28. The Late Palaeozoic brachiopod genus Jakutoproductus Kashirtsev 1959 and the Jakutoproductus verchoyanicus Zone, northern Yukon Territory, Canada. Alcheringa 18, 103–120. ISBN 0311-5518.

The familial and subfamilial position, species composition, and geographic distribution of the Late Palaeozoic productid genus Jakutoproductus Kashirtsev 1959 are reviewed. Jakutoproductus is placed in the subfamily Plicatiferinae Muir-Wood & Cooper 1960 of the family Plicatiferidae. Eighteen described species from the Russian Arctic. Mongolia, northeast China, and northern Yukon Territory, Canada are assigned to Jakutoproductus. The Jakutoproductus verchoyanicus Zone of late Sakmarian to Artinskian age, most likely early Artinskian (Aktastinian), here established is based on material from the Jungle Creek Formation, northern Yukon Territory, Canada, and is correlated with the following horizons in Russia: the Osennin Horizon in the Verchoyan Mountains, the lower Munugudjak Horizon of the Kolyma-Omolon Massif, the Hipkhoshin Suite of east Zabaikal, the lower Bhang Horizon of Taimyr, and an unnamed sandstone-shale unit on the north island of Novaya Zemlya.     

A new athyridacean brachiopod from the Carboniferous of Rawdon Vale,New South Wales

Rawdonia nasharae gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Carboniferous Carsonville and Berrico Creek Formations at Rawdon Vale, N.S.W. Rawdonia is distinguished from other athyridaceans by: the possession of a smooth brachial valve; a cardinal process which is rod-like, bordered by extensions of the socket plates, and has an alveolus or pit at the base; the lack of a cardinal plate; and the lack of well-defined dental plates. In New South Wales Rawdonia nasharae ranges from the Delepinea aspinosa Zone to the Rhipidomella fortimuscula Zone.     

High latitude,late Campanian (Cretaceous) Radiolaria from offshore south-eastern Tasmania

A well-preserved, low diversity (ten species), high latitude (palaeolatitude 70°S) radiolarian fauna is recorded from shallow-water late Campanian (Late Cretaceious) sediments recovered in cores taken from the continental slope of southeastern Tasmania. These are the first Radiolaria described from Cretaceous rocks of southeastern Australia. Most forms are previously described species but a new species of Petasiforma is described. Age control is provided by dinoflagellates but the radiolarian fauna is similar to late Campanian-Maastrichtian faunas described from Campbell Plateau. A late Campanian age can also be determined from the Radiolaria, which are correlated with the Patulibracchium dickinsoni Zone. The site has subsided some 3200 m since deposition, at an average rate of about 40–45 m/Ma, consistent with other indicators in the region. Radiolaria are similar to other coeval plankton in exhibiting high latitude characteristics.     

Parotosuchus from the Early Triassic of Queensland and Western Australia

Three members of the labyrinthodont Family Capitosauridae are described. Two new species from the Arcadia Formation of the Rewan Group, Queensland, show affinities with more primitive capitosaurs and with pre-capitosaurid groups. A third skull from the Blina Shale of Western Australia is of indeterminate species. These are the first recorded capitosaurs from Queensland and Western Australia and the first Parotosuchus from a Lystrosaurus Zone fauna.     

Eocene palynology of the Mulga Rocks deposits,southern Gunbarrel Basin,Western Australia

Mack, C.L. & Milne, L.A., 19.2.2015. Eocene palynology of the Mulga Rocks deposits, southern Gunbarrel Basin, Western Australia. Alcheringa 39, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

Late Eocene palynomorph assemblages have been recovered from carbonaceous sediments within a tenement centred on the Mulga Rocks uranium deposits, currently under exploration by Energy and Minerals Australia. The Mulga Rocks deposits occur in a palaeovalley incised into rocks of the Cretaceous southern Gunbarrel Basin, and the underlying Neoproterozoic to Late Devonian southern Officer Basin, Western Australia. The palynomorph assemblages recovered from the Mulga Rocks deposits most closely resemble the Middle Nothofagidites asperus Zone equivalent of the Murray Basin. Many of the species recovered, and the abundance and diversity at which they are present, are considerably different from most of the southeastern Australian palynoassemblages of similar age. Common in the assemblages are species belonging to Nothofagus, Casuarinaceae, Myrtaceae and Picrodendraceae. Proteaceous species are diverse, with Banksia affiliates being prominent. Of most significance are assemblages dominated by Myrtaceidites species, which also contain affiliates of Petrophile and Xylomelum that occur in modern heathland, woodland and dry sclerophyll forests. The prominence of these taxa, and their co-occurrence, suggests that sclerophylly, at present linked closely with xeromorphy and now ubiquitous in the vegetation of Western Australia, was present in the late Eocene of southern Australia and suggests that at that time this trait may have been more prevalent than previously interpreted.

Charlotte Mack [charlotte.mack@postgrad.curtin.edu.au] and Lynne Milne [l.milne@curtin.edu.au], Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia. Received 4.7.2014; revised 11.2.2015; accepted 19.2.2015.     

A new dinoflagellate species from the Upper Cretaceous of New Zealand - a morphological intermediate between three genera

The new dinoflagellate Isabelidinium marshallii sp. nov. was encountered in the lower to middle Campanian Satyrodinium haumuriense Interval Zone and in the middle to upper Campanian Isabelidinium korojonense Interval Zone, in southern Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand. The new taxon is attributed to Isabelidinium but it also closely resembles species of Alterbidinium and Satyrodinium. Despite its close morphological affiliation to three dinoflagellate genera, I. marshallii represents a discrete population of peridinioid cysts that has a stratigraphically useful range in New Zealand.     

New material referable to Wakaleo (Marsupialia: Thylacoleonidae) from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area,northwestern Queensland: revising species boundaries and distributions in Oligo/Miocene marsupial lions

Gillespie, A.K., Archer, M., Hand, S.J. & Black, K.H., 2014. New material referable to Wakaleo (Marsupialia: Thylacoleonidae) from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland: revising species boundaries and distributions in Oligo/Miocene marsupial lions. Alcheringa 38, 513–527. ISSN 0311–5518.

New material of Wakaleo oldfieldi and W. vanderleueri from the Miocene freshwater limestones of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland, is described. This material includes the first known upper dentition of W. oldfieldi and dentaries of both species bearing the previously undescribed and morphologically distinct M₃. Previously, the two species were distinguished only by size differences in P3 and the size of P₃ relative to M1. Wakaleo oldfieldi exhibits a more plesiomorphic M₃ that retains a well-developed talonid basin in contrast to W. vanderleueri, which has lost this structure. The phyletic succession and geological occurrences of Wakaleo species make this genus an important taxon in biochronological analyses of Australian Cenozoic assemblages. At Riversleigh, W. oldfieldi is found in deposits allocated to Faunal Zone B and Faunal Zone C, which are regarded as early and middle Miocene in age, respectively. The presence of this species in the Kutjamarpu Local Fauna of central Australia suggests that fauna may be of a similar age. Broader faunal correlations have suggested Faunal Zone C correlates with the middle Miocene Bullock Creek Local Fauna, which contains the more derived W. vanderleueri. Based on stage-of-evolution arguments, W. oldfieldi should occur in older deposits than those yielding W. vanderleueri. The presence of both species of Wakaleo in Faunal Zone C assemblages at Riversleigh suggests that current presumptions about the contemporaneity of the many Faunal Zone C Sites should be examined more rigorously.

Anna K. Gillespie [a.gillespie@unsw.edu.au], Michael Archer [m.archer@unsw.edu.au], Suzanne J. Hand [s.hand@unsw.edu.au] and Karen H. Black [k.black@unsw.edu.au] School of Biological Earth and Environmental Science, UNSW 2052, Sydney, Australia. Received 3.1.2014, revised 21.2.2014, accepted 21.3.2014.     

Australian Middle Cambrian molluscs and their bearing on early molluscan evolution

Thirty ammonite taxa are recognised in the Wangarlu Mudstone of the Bathurst Island Group from the Cox Peninsula and Shoal Bay, Northern Territory, Australia. Included are a new heteromorph genus Notostreptites, type species N. exilis, and four additional new species and subspecies: Pseudhelicoceras gracilis, Labeceras (L.) tumidum, Labeceras (Appurdiceras) decorum, and Idiohamites dorsetensis laticostatus. The assemblage is best collectively correlated with the Mortoniceras (M.) inflatum Zone of the standard European Albian zonation but some of its members may represent the lower part of the Stoliczkaia dispar Zone. It is broadly correlative with faunas from the Eromanga Basin, which relate to an extensive eastern Australian Late Albian epicontinental sea, but is strikingly different in aspect. The Wangarlu Mudstone assemblage has relatively high diversity and an abundance of cosmopolitan heteromorph taxa well known from Europe and elsewhere, whereas Eromanga Basin assemblages are of relatively low diversity and dominated by Austral heteromorph genera known only from Australasia, southern Africa and Malagasy. The Austral character of Eromanga Basin assemblages is attributed to evolution in a restricted epicontinental sea environment and modest dispersal whereas the continental margin position of the Wangarlu Mudstone ensured an influx of pandemic elements drawn from the mid-Cretaceous world ocean.     

Early Cretaceous (Neocomian) microplankton from the Carpentaria Basin,northern Queensland

The Neocomian upper Helby Beds, basal Rolling Downs Group and Gilbert River Formation of the Carpentaria Basin contain a dinoflagellate sequence divisible into three zonal intervals; the zones represent the oldest continuous marine Cretaceous record for eastern Australia. Zone DK1 (dated latest Jurassic to Berriasian) commences with the first appearance of four species, zone DK2 (dated Valanginian) with that of four or five species, and zone DK3 (dated Hauterivian to Barremian) with that of three species.

Biostratigraphic aspects are discussed of species selected as possible zone marker fossils in so far as they (a) are relatively poorly known, or represent new species, and (b) have no previously published Neocomian record. New combinations are proposed of one acritarch species and six dinoflagellate species. One new acritarch genus and species, Pseudofromea collaris, and four new dinoflagellate species — Canningia crassicingulata, Cleistosphaeridium australe, Cyclonephelium asymmetricum, and Muderongia testudinaria — are proposed and described.     

Outline of a Late Cretaceous dinoflagellate zonation of northwestern Australia

The Late Cretaceous and Danian dinoflagellate succession of northwestern Australia can be divided into nine zones, five subzones and one assemblage. In ascending order these are the Diconodinium multispinum Zone, the Palaeohystrichophora infusorioides Zone, the Isabelidinium acuminatum Zone, the Conosphaeridium striatoconus Zone, the Isabelidinium balmei Subzone, the Gillinia hymenophora Subzone, the Areosphaeridium suggestium Zone, the Areoligera coronata Zone, the Samlandia carnarvonensis Zone, the Deflandrea diebelii Zone, the Cladopyxidium foveolatum Subzone, the Alterbidinium acutulum Subzone, the Exochosphaeridium bifidum Subzone, the Alisocysta circumtabulata Zone and the Tectatodinium rugulatum Assemblage. Five new species are described; Areosphaeridium suggestium sp. nov., Cladopyxidium foveolatum sp. nov., Samlandia carnarvonensis sp. nov., Samlandia mayi sp. nov., Samlandia vermicularia sp. nov., and two new combinations proposed; Tectatodinium rugulatum (Hansen) comb. nov. and Membranilarnacia angustivela (Deflandre & Cookson) comb. nov.     

Permian palynostratigraphy of the Claromecó Basin,Argentina

The first palynozonation for Permian strata of the Claromecó Basin (Argentina) is formally proposed, based on palynological assemblages recovered from the UTAL.CMM1 La Estrella.x-1 and UTAL.CMM1 Cruz de Sur.x-1 boreholes, drilled on the Argentinian Continental Platform and correlation with established zones from neighbouring basins. Fifty-five samples were analyzed and 131 species identified from two biozones. The lower Converrucosisporites confluens–Vittatina vittifera (CV) Zone occurs in the Piedra Azul and Bonete formations of both boreholes. This zone can be assigned a Cisuralian–Guadalupian age. The upper Tornopollenites toreutos–Reduviasporonites chalastus (TC) Zone registered in the Tunas Formation can be assigned a Guadalupian–Lopingian age. The CV Zone is dominated by diverse non-taeniate bisaccate, plicate and taeniate pollen. Monosaccate and monosulcate pollen, algae and acritarchs are poorly represented in both biozones. The composition of the TC Zone is broadly similar to the CV Zone, but bisaccate pollen grains are markedly more diverse and abundant in the former.     

A new Pliocene tree kangaroo species (Marsupialia,Macropodinae) from the Chinchilla Local Fauna,southeastern Queensland

A new species of very large tree kangaroo, Bohra wilkinsonorum, is described from a maxillary fragment from the Pliocene Chinchilla Sands of southeastern Queensland. Allocation to Bohra, which has previously been known from postcranial material only, is suggested on the basisof its similar size and stage of evolution to Bohra paulae. Both species of Bohra are plesiomorphic with respect to species of Dendrolagus, and are much larger than any known species of Dendrolagus. This new taxon from Chinchilla has expanded the tree kangaroo record from the Pliocene of southeastern Australia, supporting the hypothesis that the group originated in the late Miocene of ‘mainland’ Australia, finding refuge in north-eastern Queensland and New Guinea as climate became drier in the Quaternary. Fossil tree kangaroos are unknown from the Pliocene of Papua New Guinea where most living species now occur.