UPPER DEVONIAN CONODONTS ASSOCIATED WITH A LARGE PLACODERM FISH SKULL FROM THE CANNING BASIN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 10 years ago

Abstract
Conodonts retrieved from limestone encasing the skull of a large placoderm fish, from an unknown location in the south-eastern Canning Basin, indicate an age of mid-Famennian (toIIB) because of the concurrent presence of the following taxa: Nothognathella palmatiformis, Nothognathella sp. nov, A. Druce 1976, Palmatolepis glabra pectinata, P. quadrantinodosa inflexa, P. quadrantinodosa inflexoidea, P. marginifera s.s., Polygnathus triphyllatus, P. glaber s.s. and P. germanus s.s. The assemblage represents a palmatolepid-polygnathid biofacies dominated by palmatolepids, and is typical of muddy outer shelf to sandy inner shelf environments. The occurrence of certain taxa which have only been previously recorded in the Canning Basin from the Virgin Hills Formation, together with the lithology of the specimen, and palaeoecological information afforded by the conodonts, suggests that the specimen was derived from the uppermost section of the Virgin Hills Formation.