Thelodont fish and conodonts from the Early Devonian of Reefton,New Zealand

Thelodont scales and associated fragments of conodont elements identified as Turinia sp. cf. Turinia australiensis and Ozarkodina sp. cf. Ozarkodina buchanensis respectively are described for the first time from the Early Devonian Murray Creek Formation of Reefton, New Zealand. The conodont and thelodont components of the fauna suggest a late Pragian to early Emsian age for the assemblage.     

Acanthodian,onychodontid and osteolepidid fish from the middle-upper Taemas Limestone (Early Devonian), Lake Burrinjuck,New South Wales

A meagre ischnacanthid acanthodian fauna, known from fragmentary dentigerous jawbones from Lake Burrinjuck, Yass district, New South Wales, consists of three taxa: Taemasacanthus narrengullenensis, Taemasacanthus cooradigbeensis and an indeterminate ischnacanthid. The fossils are from three Early Devonian (Emsian) units at Taemas: the Bloomfield Limestone Member, the Currajong Limestone Member and the Warroo Limestone Member, which constitute the middle-upper parts of the Taemas Limestone (Murrumbidgee Group); and from Unit 6 of the ‘Upper Reef formation’ at Wee Jasper. Whereas ischnacanthid acanthodian remains are increasingly rarer in the higher levels of the Taemas Limestone, remains of onychodontid and osteolepidid fishes are relatively abundant; Onychodus yassensis sp. nov., Onychodus sp. and isolated osteolepidid teeth are locally common.     

Lower Devonian ischnacanthid fish (Gnathostomata: Acanthodii) from the Taemas Limestone,Lake Burrinjuck,New South Wales

Dentigerous jawbones of ischnacanthid acanthodians from the Lower Devonian Currajong Limestone Member and the lower part of the Bloomfield Limestone Member of the Taemas Limestone (Murrumbidgee Group: early Emsian) in the Murrumbidgee valley at Good Hope, Taemas district, and the Goodradigbee valley at Wee Jasper are described. Three taxa of Taemasacanthus are recognized: T. sp. cf. erroli Long, 1986; T. narrengullenensis sp. nov. and T. cooradigbeensis sp. nov. Fragmentary fin spine remains and scales are also described.     

Acanthodian fish remains from the Lower Devonian Cavan Bluff Limestone (Murrumbidgee Group), Taemas district,New South Wales

A well-preserved acanthodian fish fauna from the Lower Devonian (early Emsian) Cavan Bluff Limestone (Murrumbidgee Group), Taemas, Yass district, New South Wales, consists of dentigerous jawbones, fin spines and scales. Four taxa belonging to the Order Ischnacanthida are recognized including Taemasacanthus erroli Long, 1986 and newly described genera and species Cavanacanthus warrooensis gen. et sp. nov., Cambaracanthus goodhopensis gen. et sp. nov. and Taemasacanthus porca sp. nov. An amended diagnosis is provided for T. erroli. The jawbone of C. warrooensis gen. et sp. nov. is of moderate size and bears a single row of teeth with a circular parabasal section. The jawbone extends in an anterior direction beyond the foremost tooth. C. goodhopensis gen. et sp. nov. is a small to moderate sized jawbone bearing two teeth rows separated by a longitudinal ridge. The teeth of the mesial tooth row, the main tooth row, are circular in parabasal section. The lateral tooth row is weakly developed, bearing one or two incipient teeth. T. porca sp. nov. is represented by a small curved jawbone (mesially concave) bearing two teeth rows separated by a prominent longitudinal ridge. The teeth of both tooth rows have a circular parabasal section. The anterior extension of this ridge beyond the foremost tooth represents approximately one quarter the length of the jawbone. These fishes inhabited a Lower Devonian carbonate platform consisting of patch reefs built upon a muddy substrate on a low energy shallow marine shelf which was subjected to frequent storm surges.     

Algae from Early and Middle Devonian limestones,tamworth belt,New South Wales,Australia

Eighteen genera of cosmopolitan marine algae are reported from Emsian and Eifelian limestones of New South Wales. Couvinianella, Paralitanaia, Perrierella, Pseudopalaeoporella and Renalcis are the most abundant taxa. Three distinctive floras are recognized: a prolific dasycladale-coccoid assemblage; a diverse udoteacean assemblage; and an undiversified udoteacean assemblage. None of these floras has a precise stratigraphic significance, although they indicate a latest Silurian-Middle Devonian age. Maslovina australense sp. nov. is described.     

A new Early Devonian lungfish from Guangxi,China, and its palaeogeographic significance

Qiao, T. & Zhu, M., 13.4.2015. A new Early Devonian lungfish from Guangxi, China, and its palaeogeographic significance. Alcheringa 39, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

A new species of Cathlorhynchus (Dipnorhynchidae, Dipnoi) is described based on a mandible from the marine Yukiang Formation (early Emsian, Early Devonian) of Guangxi, southern China. It resembles the type species of Cathlorhynchus, C. trismodipterus, in that the anterior portion of the internal median septum terminates abruptly and does not contact dermal bones ventrally. The new Chinese form, together with Erikia jarviki from the Emsian of Yunnan, southern China, confirms the occurrence of the Dipnorhynchus lineage outside Australia. Coupled with the distribution of Westollrhynchus, Ichnomylax and Jessenia, we propose that the Dipnorhynchus lineage was dispersed widely during the early Emsian, corroborating the trans-Panthalassic distribution of early sarcopterygians.

Tuo Qiao [qiaotuo@ivpp.ac.cn] and Min Zhu [zhumin@ivpp.ac.cn], Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 643, Beijing 100044, PR China.     

Costulatotheca schleigeri (Hyolitha: Orthothecida) from the Walhalla Group (Early Devonian) at Mount Pleasant,central Victoria,Australia

Earp, C., 29 January 2019. Costulatotheca schleigeri (Hyolitha: Orthothecida) from the Walhalla Group (Early Devonian) at Mount Pleasant, central Victoria, Australia. Alcheringa. Alcheringa 43, 220–227. ISSN 0311-5518

A number of hyolith fragments (including one operculum), found in Early Devonian marine turbidites at Mt Pleasant, near Alexandra, central Victoria, are described as Costulatotheca schleigeri gen. et sp. nov., the first confirmed record of the order Orthothecida in the Devonian of Australia. Index fossils found at this locality (Uncinatograptus sp. cf. U. thomasi and Nowakia sp. ex gr. N. acuaria) indicate an age of Pragian or earliest Emsian. The taphonomy of rare rafted shelly fossils indicates that flysch deposition occurred in a very-low-energy environment into which there were occasional bursts of high-energy turbidites carrying allochthonous fossils from shallower water.

Clement Earp [omaiosys@yahoo.com.au], 1 De Havilland Place, Onerahi, Whangarei 0110, New Zealand.