Upper Devonian osteichthyan remains from the Genoa River, Victoria, Australia

Memoirs of Museum Victoria Vol 67 p. 35–44 (2010)

DOI

http://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2010.67.04

Abstract

The Genoa River Trackway site in the Upper Devonian Combyingbar Formation represents one of the earliest records of tetrapods (land vertebrates) from Australia. However, the osteichthyan assemblage from the site is poorly known compared to other Devonian tetrapod localities. New information from a tetrapodomorph fish lower jaw possibly indicates the first record of a tristichopterid from the Genoa River Beds. The specimen shares a posteroventral embayment in the profile of lower jaw with Eusthenopteron foordi, Platycephalichthys bischoffi, and Moroccan tristichopterid material, as well an isolated specimen of the ‘osteolepidid’ Gyroptychius. Polyplocodont and dendrodont teeth are also described from the Genoa River, with the latter indicating the presence of a large, porolepiform taxon. The antiarch placoderm Remigolepis represents the most abundant fossil fish taxon recorded from the Genoa River. The possible presence of phyllolepid placoderm material may support previous suggestions of a pre-Famennian age for the Genoa River Beds.

Citation

Holland, T., 2010. Upper Devonian osteichthyan remains from the Genoa River, Victoria, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 67: 35-44. http://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2010.67.04

PUBLICATION DATE: 14 December 2010