Late Silurian vertebrate microfossils from the Carnarvon Basin,Western Australia

Burrow, C.J., Turner, S., Trinajstic, K. &; Young, G.C., 27 February 2019. Late Silurian vertebrate microfossils from the Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia. Alcheringa 43, 204–219. ISSN 0311-5518.

A core sample from the offshore Pendock 1A well, Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia yielded microvertebrate residues at an horizon in the lower part of the Hamelin Formation, dated as late Silurian, ? Ludlow, based on associated conodonts. The fish fauna comprises loganelliiform thelodont scales, the ? stem gnathostome Aberrosquama occidens nov. gen. et sp., the acanthodian Nostolepis sp. aff. N. alta, and the ? stem osteichthyan Andreolepis sp. aff. A. petri. Because of the paucity of the material, and some differences between the Pendock scales and those of established species, a precise age can not be confirmed; however, the composition of the fauna at generic level most closely resembles that of late Silurian (Ludlow) assemblages from northern Eurasia.

Carole J. Burrow* [carole.burrow@gmail.com], Geosciences, Queensland Museum, Hendra QLD 4011, Australia; Susan Turner [palaeoich@yahoo.com], Geosciences, Queensland Museum, Hendra QLD 4011, Australia; Kate Trinajstic [k.trinajstic@curtin.edu.au], School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6102, Australia; Gavin C. Young [gavin.young@anu.edu.au], Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2000, Australia.     

Late Devonian gastropods from the Canning Basin,Western Australia

Over 50 identifications of Tertiary pollen are reviewed. The pollen assemblages indicate rain-forest through most of the Tertiary, but the requisites for pollen preservation are biased towards the wetter climates.

The present day geographical affinities of the botanical groups are largely with taxa of the tropical zone and Australia-wide taxa. There is geographic variation in the fossil pollen assemblages when southeastern Australia is compared with Central Australia and Queensland.

The major changes in the fossil floras coincide with climatic change, indicating the influence of climate on the evolution of plant assemblages. The older phytogeographic concepts are inappropriate for the fossil record, especially when considered in conjunction with palaeoclimates and palaeogeography.

It is unfortunate that palynology has given little information of the evolution of floras in drier climatic regimes, or of the evolution of the eucalypts.     

A second incisoscutid arthrodire (Pisces,Placodermi) from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation,Western Australia

Long, J. A., 1994:03:28. A second incisoscutid arthrodire (Pisces, Placodermi) from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation. Western Australia. Alcheringa 18. 59–69. ISSN 0311-5518.

A new incisoscutid arthrodire is described from the Upper Devonian Gogo Formation of Western Australia as Gogosteus sarahae gen. et sp. nov. It is characterised by its narrow headshield with cheek unit firmly attached to skull roof, crushing gnathal plates, deep postnasal plates, elongate anterior lateral plate with deeply embayed postbranchial notch and squarely cut posterior margin, and fine dermal ornamentation. The family Incisoscutidae Denison 1984 is redefined to include Incisoscutum ritchiei Dennis & Miles 1981 and Gogosteus gen. nov., and the superfamily Incisoscutoidea nov. defined to include Incisoscutidae and Camuropiscidae.     

Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) conodonts from the Goldwyer Formation of the Canning Basin,Western Australia

Zhen, Y.Y., Normore, L.S., Dent, L.M. & Percival, I.G., 11 July 2019. Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) conodonts from the Goldwyer Formation of the Canning Basin, Western Australia. Alcheringa 44, 25–55. ISSN 0311-5518

Middle Ordovician conodonts attributed to 46 species were recovered from a stratigraphic interval spanning the Willara, Goldwyer and Nita formations in core sections from the Sally May-2 and Theia-1 petroleum exploration wells in the Canning Basin, Western Australia. The Histiodella serrata, Histiodella holodentata and Eoplacognathus pseudoplanus biozones are recognized in the lower and middle part of the Goldwyer Formation, indicative of an early–middle Darriwilian age. This revised conodont biostratigraphy enables more precise correlation with North America and North and South China. Several biogeographically distinctive conodont species, most likely of North Chinese origin, are recorded from the Goldwyer Formation. Their presence signals a strong palaeobiogeographic connection between the Sino-Korean Craton and the Canning Basin on the western margin of eastern Gondwana during the late Middle Ordovician.

Y.Y. Zhen* [yong-yi.zhen@planning.nsw.gov.au], W.B. Clarke Geoscience Centre, Geological Survey of New South Wales, 947–953 Londonderry Road, Londonderry NSW 2753, Australia; L.S. Normore [leon.normore@dmirs.wa.gov.au]; L.M. Dent [louisa.dent@dmirs.wa.gov.au], Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Mineral House, Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain Street, East Perth, WA 6004, Australia; I.G. Percival [ian.percival@planning.nsw.gov.au], W.B. Clarke Geoscience Centre, Geological Survey of New South Wales, 947–953 Londonderry Road, Londonderry NSW 2753, Australia;     

A Devonian fish fauna from subsurface sediments in the eastern Officer Basin,South Australia

This paper reports the discovery of three of the most iconic New Caledonian endemic genera, Amphorogyne, Paracryphia and Phelline, as dispersed leaf cuticle fossils in the early Miocene of New Zealand. New Caledonia's endemic angiosperm families have given it a reputation as one of the most interesting botanical regions in the world, but unfortunately it has no known pre-Pleistocene Cenozoic plant fossil record. A once more widespread distribution of its key plants in the context of a cooling and drying Neogene world suggests the current vegetation of New Caledonia is the result of contraction, or even a migration, from more southerly landmasses. Thus, New Zealand may have been a source of at least some of New Caledonia's plants.     

Late Devonian (Famennian) brachiopod Yunnanella from the Junggar Basin,northern Xinjiang,China

The Late Devonian (Famennian) brachiopod Yunnanella is reported from the western Junggar Basin, northern Xinjiang, on the basis of Yunnanella hanburii (Davidson) and Yunnanella sp.     

Macropodines from the Pliocene Otibanda Formation,Papua New Guinea

Newly collected material of macropodines from the Otibanda Formation, P.N.G., includes previously unknown elements from described taxa, as well as material of a new and plesiomorphic macropodine, Watutia novaeguineae gen. et. sp. nov. Known only from adult upper and lower cheek tooth rows, this species shows a close similarity to undescribed macropodines of Tertiary age from northwestern Queensland and Hadronomas puckridgi from the Miocene of the Northern Territory, Australia. The upper molar row assigned to Dorcopsis sp. by Plane (1967), but regarded to be more closely related to Dendrolagus by Woodburne (1967), is here interpreted to be closer in morphology to species of Dorcopsis than Dendrolagus.     

Ordovician acritarchs from the Canning Basin,Western Australia

A left mandibular toothplate of a chimaeroid fish collected from the Toolebuc Formation (Early Cretaceous, Albian), central Queensland is described. Comparisons with other chimaeroid genera show the toothplate to be sufficiently distinct to warrant the erection of a new genus. Ptyktoptychion tayyo gen. et sp. nov. is distinguished by the size and shape of its three tritors, the form of the symphysial facet and the overall shape of the toothplate.     

Neoproterozoic microfossils from the Officer Basin,Western Australia

Microfossil assemblages are described from the early Neoproterozoic Madley and Browne Formations, western Officer Basin. One chert and eleven siliciclastic samples yielded microfossils. Myxococcoides cantabrigiensis occurs as pustular mats in the chert sample and Eomicrocystis malgica, Pterospermopsimorpha granulata, Skiagia sp. cf. S. pusilla, and undetermined species of Obruchevella, Heliconema, and Trachystrichosphaera are present in acid macerated samples. Leiosphaeridia spp. and Siphonophycus spp. are also found in fine-grained siliciclastic samples, with clusters of Synsphaeridium sp. in some samples. These findings enable a more substantial reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment of Supersequence 1 in the western Centralian Superbasin. The acanthomorph acritarchs are considered to be planktonic eucaryotes washed into environments which ranged from coastal sabkha through to tidal flats, which may be the source of the prokaryotic, benthic, matforming cyanobacteria.     

A rare,late Paleocene molluscan faunule from the Kings Park Formation,Perth Basin,Western Australia

A shallow marine faunule of eight taxa from the Kings Park Formation of the Perth Basin is the first described Paleocene molluscan assemblage from Western Australia. These species are part of a depauperate suite of macroinvertebrates (molluscs, echinoids and corals) derived from deep, onshore caissons in Perth and are inferred to be late Paleocene in age, based on planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and associated age ranges of the molluscan fauna. Bivalves are Sarepta austranaxa sp. nov. (Sareptidae), Solemya kingsparki sp. nov. (Solemyidae), Periploma vivarirex sp. nov. (Periplomatidae), Parvamussium sp. nov.? (Propeamussiidae), Serripecten? sp. (Pectinidae) and Venericardia (Rotundicardia) petraea Darragh (Carditidae). Gastropods are Levifusus? sp. cf. L.? quadrifunifer Darragh (Buccinidae), and Columbarium rumatoides Darragh (Turbinellidae). Bivalves dominate the fauna in dark, glauconitic siltstone and sandstone facies; gastropods are of relatively poor preservation and low diversity.     

Cainozoic euphorbiacean wood from the Canning Basin,Western Australia

A new species of fossil wood is described, Bridelioxylon canningense Bamford & McLoughlin, belonging to the Phyllanthoideae group of the Euphorbiaceae. The woods occur in indurated sandstones and conglomerates preserved in palaeochannels incised into the Upper Permian Condren Sandstone in the Landrigan Cliffs, northern Canning Basin, Western Australia. Based on the presence of the dicotyledonous woods and the geomorphological setting of the palaeochannel, a Palaeogene age is suggested for the host rocks. This is the first record of fossil euphorbiacean wood in Australia; pollen has been previously recorded. The fossil wood is most closely comparable to extant members of Bridelia that currently occupy the warmer and wetter parts of Australia.     

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).     

Microfossils from Neoproterozoic Supersequence 1 of the Officer Basin,Western Australia

The discovery of a rich assemblage of microfossils from the Neoproterozoic western Officer Basin (Centralian Superbasin) provides a more complete understanding of the biostratigraphy of this Basin. The microfossils are found in Supersequence 1 (～800 Ma) in Western Australia. The assemblages are comprised of acritarchs and cyanobacteria isolated by acid maceration from siliciclastics of the Browne (Madley), Hussar, Kanpa and Steptoe Formations. The distinctive acritarchs Cerebrosphaera buickii, Satka colonialica, Stictosphaeridium sinapticuliferum and Pterospermopsimorpha insolita are of particular interest in the Neoproterozoic. These taxa are found in similar depositional environments in Spitsbergen, Arizona, Canada and Siberia. This evidence, together with lithostratographic correlations, isotope chemostratigraphy, and sequence analysis contributes to the continuing development of Neoproterozoic stratigraphy.     

Ostracods of the Late Devonian Frasnian/Famennian transition from Western Junggar,Xinjiang, NW China

Song, J., Crasquin, S. & Gong, Y., September 2016. Ostracods of the Late Devonian Frasnian/Famennian transition from western Junggar, Xinjiang, NW China. Alcheringa 41, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

Ostracods are described for the first time from the Late Devonian of western Junggar in Xinjiang, NW China. Fifty-two species belonging to 30 genera are recognized, and seven are new: Arcuaria hebukesarensis sp. nov., Bairdia shaerbuertiensis sp. nov., Cribroconcha honggulelengensis sp. nov., Microchelinella bulongourensis sp. nov., M. hoxtolgayensis sp. nov., Pribylites wulankeshunensis sp. nov. and P. junggarensis sp. nov. The ostracod fauna indicates a probable late Frasnian age for the lower member of the Hongguleleng Formation, and the Frasnian/Famennian boundary may exist in the basal part of the formation. The ostracod assemblages are referable to the Eifelian Mega-Assemblage, incorporating both the palaeocopid and smooth-podocopid associations. The fauna implies deposition in a nearshore–offshore environment during a transgression when the lower member of the Hongguleleng Formation was being deposited in western Junggar.

Junjun Song [hnlisa@126.com], State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China; CR2P, MNHN-UPMC- CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, T46-56, E.5, case 104, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France; Sylvie Crasquin [sylvie.crasquin@upmc.fr], CR2P, MNHN-UPMC-CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Universités Pierre et Marie Curie, T46-56, E.5, case 104, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France; Yiming Gong* [ymgong@cug.edu.cn], State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China.     

Svalbardia (Chonetidina,Brachiopoda) from the Kungurian (Permian) of Western Australia

The rugosochonetid genus Svalbardia is recorded for the first time from the Western Australian Permian. The new species Svalbardia thomasi is described from the Nalbia Greywacke and the Baker Formation of the Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia. The relationship of Svalbardia to allied genera of the Rugosochonetidae Muir-Wood is discussed. The disjunct distribution of the genus in the Permian is documented.     

A new Late Devonian acanthodian fish from the Hunter Formation near Grenfell,New South Wales

The ischnacanthid acanthodian Grenfellacanthus zerinae gen. et sp. nov. is described on the basis of two large jaw bones from the Late Devonian (late Famennian) Hunter Formation, near Grenfell, N.S.W. The new species is the youngest known ischnacanthid, and the largest ischnacanthid from Gondwana. As for many ischnacanthids, the structure of the jaws and teeth indicate that Grenfellacanthus was probably an ambush predator.     

Ordovician biostratigraphy of the Canning Basin,Western Australia

Six biostratigraphically distinct faunas based largely on trilobites and graptolites are defined from the Lower to Middle Ordovician limestone, sandstone and shale sequence of the Canning Basin. They range in age from the Tremadoc (fauna 1), through the Arenig (faunas 2, 3) to the Llanvirn (faunas 4–6).