GONDWANODUS IRWINENSIS GEN. ET. SP. NOV., A NEW ELASMOBRANCH FROM THE EARLY PERMIAN (LATE SAKMARIAN) FOSSIL CLIFF MEMBER OF THE HOLMWOOD SHALE, PERTH BASIN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

Abstract - A new elasmobranch is described from the Early Permian (Sakmarian, Sterlitamaklan) of Western Australia. Gondwanodus irwinensis gen. et sp. nov. is represented by a single tooth which has a lingually prominent rectangular coronal base, a long, wide, robust tooth root and a low, medially acuminate crown. The tooth shares the lingually prominent
coronal base with the petalodonts and Heteropetalus Lund, 1977. The morphology of the tooth suggests a specialized durophagous diet that may, have included small decapod crustaceans or phyllocarids. The specimen was recovered from residue obtained through acid etching of small limestone blocks collected from Fossil Cliff in the northern part of the Perth Basin. The sediments are glacio-marine in origin and were formed when the Perth Basin was located at a latitude of approximately 70 degrees S. To date a vertebrate fauna
comprising symmoriid and stethacanthid shark teeth, a variety of placoid scales, and teeth and scales of palaeoniscoid fish, has been recovered.