First record of a neolampadoid echinoid from the Paleogene of Western Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 7 years ago

ABSTRACT – A neolampadoid echinoid is described from the Late Eocene Pallinup Limestone, western Eucla Basin. This represents the first record of this order from the Paleogene of the western half of the continent. The echinoid is characterised by the possession of a tetrabasal apical system that has only two gonopores. It shares many similarities with Aphanophora? bassoris Holmes, 1995, from the coeval Kingscote Limestone, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, with which it is questioningly compared. The only record of a living species of Aphallophora found in Australian waters is based on a single neolampadoid collected from northwestern Australia, and tentatively assigned to the genus. The temporal range of this genus in the eastern Indian Ocean region may therefore extend back some 40 million years to the Late Eocene.