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Early Devonian thelodonts (Agnatha) from the Toko Syncline, western Queensland, and a review of other Australian discoveries

Created 20/01/2026

Updated 20/01/2026

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Thelodont scales recovered from the basal (calcareous) unit of the Cravens Peak Beds in the Georgina Basin, are referable to Turinia australiensis Gross, 1971, T. cf. pagei (Powrie, 1870), and Gampsolepis ? sp. undet. The thelodonts probably lived in a marginal marine environment (as evidenced from the associated ostracods and eridostracans) at about the same time as the placoderm Wuttagoonaspis sp. lived in the freshwater bodies, now represented by the sandstone and conglomerate facies of the Cravens Peak Beds. Scales of Turinia australiensis Gross, 1971, associated with Wuttagoonaspis plates, from the lower part of the Mulga Downs Group in the Cobar/Wilcannia area of New South Wales, are at least as young as late Early Devonian (Emsian), because they post-date the Pragian age of the underlying Amphitheatre Group. By correlation, those parts of the Cravens Peak Beds (Georgina Basin) and the Tandalgoo Red Beds (Canning Basin) that also contain Turinia australiensis are approximately coeval. After reaching Australia in Early Devonian time, the Turinia fauna began an adaptive radiation to give apparently younger (Middle Devonian) stocks that have survived longer in the Australian region than elsewhere, as the youngest known scales come from the Gneudna Formation (Iatest Givetian-earliest Frasnian) in the Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia.

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Title Early Devonian thelodonts (Agnatha) from the Toko Syncline, western Queensland, and a review of other Australian discoveries
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/9f75edf6-81f9-4715-ac79-a327615088a5
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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Data Portal Data.gov.au