First documentation of similar Late Permian actinopterygian fish from Australia and South Africa

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 9 years ago

Introduction: During a recent research visit to the Australian Museum, Sydney, the author identified an undescribed deep-bodied actinopterygian fish from the Rangal Coal Measures, Blackwater Group, Bowen Basin, Queensland, as being similar to a deep-bodied form from the Balfour Formation, Lower Beaufort Group, Karoo Basin, South Africa (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). This discovery has important biogeographic implications since no comparable fossil remains are known from the Late Permian of the two regions.