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Mandagery Sandstone
The Mandagery Sandstone is a Late Devonian geological formation in New South Wales, Australia. It is one of several famed Australian lagerstätten, with thousands of exceptional fish fossils found at a site near the town of Canowindra. A sandstone block containing 114 fish was discovered in 1956 about 10 km west of Canowindra, on the road to Gooloogong. The Canowindra site was rediscovered by paleontologist Alex Ritchie in 1993, and over 3000 fish fossils have been catalogued and stored at the Australian Museum in Sydney and the local Age of Fishes Museum in Canowindra. Antiarch placoderms make up the majority of specimens recovered; '' Bothriolepis'' and '' Remigolepis'' are the most abundant fossils, followed by the arthrodire ''Groenlandaspis''. About 20 sarcopterygian (lobe-finned fish) fossils have also been found, including new taxa such as '' Canowindra,'' '' Mandageria'', ''Cabonnichthys,'' '' Soederberghia'' and ''Gooloogongia.'' Fossils are preserved as natural m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frasnian
The Frasnian is one of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian Period. It lasted from million years ago to million years ago. It was preceded by the Givetian Stage and followed by the Famennian Stage. Major reef-building was under way during the Frasnian Stage, particularly in western Canada and Australia. On land, the first forests were taking shape. In North America, the Antler orogeny peaked, which were contemporary with the Bretonic phase of the Variscan orogeny in Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti .... The Frasnian coincides with the second half of the "charcoal gap" in the fossil record, a time when atmospheric oxygen levels were below 13 percent, the minimum necessary to sustain wildfires. North American subdivisions of the Frasnian include * Wes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alex Ritchie
Alex Ritchie (1935-2023) was a palaeontologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney and the Australian National University in Canberra. He was a member of the Antarctic Expedition that discovered important sites of fossil fish in Antarctica, including Mount Ritchie, which is named after him. Biography Alex Ritchie was born in Scotland in 1935. His family was poor and he would scavenge for coal. One day he came across a fossil, which became a lifelong passion. He emigrated to Australia in 1968, and took up a position at the Australian Museum in Sydney. In 1970-1971, Ritchie was a member of the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition. The Skelton Neve area was known to have fossils, but earlier finds were fragmentary. The University sent a group of specialist to collect as many well-preserved fossils as they could find. In particular, Ritchie searched for the fossilised jaw of a sarcopterygian, an air breathing lobe-finned fish that gave rise to first tetrapods. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cabonnichthys
''Cabonnichthys'' ("Burns' Cabonne fish") is an extinct genus of tristichopterid fish that lived in the Late Devonian period (Famennian The Famennian is the latter of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian Epoch. The most recent estimate for its duration estimates that it lasted from around 371.1 million years ago to 359.3 million years ago. An earlier 2012 estimate, still used ...) of Australia. It has been found in Canowindra and is a medium-sized carnivorous lobe-finned fish. References Tristichopterids Prehistoric lobe-finned fish genera Late Devonian animals Late Devonian fish Devonian bony fish Prehistoric fish of Australia {{paleo-lobefinned-fish-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandageria
''Mandageria fairfaxi'' (Pronunciation: Man-daj-ee-ree-a fair-fax-i) is an extinct lobe-finned fish that lived during the Late Devonian period (Frasnian – Famennian). It is related to the much larger ''Hyneria''; although ''Mandageria'' was smaller, it probably hunted in the same way. The generic epithet, ''Mandageria'', refers to the Mandagery Sandstone, outcropping near Canowindra, Australia, where the fossils were found. The specific epithet, ''fairfaxi'', honors the philanthropist James Fairfax. ''M. fairfaxi'' is the state fossil emblem for New South Wales. Description ''Mandageria'' was a large predator about long. It had a long torpedo-shaped body and large tail fins. ''Mandageria'' also had large pectoral fins which could have helped it manoeuvre around submerged logs when preparing to attack its prey. ''Mandageria'' had a functional neck joint, an otherwise uncommon feature among fish - ''Tiktaalik'', '' Tarrasius'', placoderms (esp. Arthrodira) and seahorses ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canowindra Grossi
''Canowindra'' is a prehistoric lobe-finned fish which lived during the Late Devonian period (about 374 to 359 million years ago). The genus is known from only a single well preserved specimen, dubbed ''Canowindra grossi'', after Professor Walter Gross, who spent his career studying lobe-finned fish, and after the Australian town in which it was found, Canowindra. ''Canowindra grossi'' was apparently comparatively small in size (about 50 cm) and belongs to the family of Canowindridae The Canowindridae are a family of prehistoric lobe-finned fishes which lived during the Devonian period (Famennian stage, about 374 to 359 million years ago). Fossils of fishes that belonged to this family have been found in Australia, Antarctica .... External links https://web.archive.org/web/20080718172910/http://ageoffishes.org.au/fishes/canowind.htm Canowindrids Late Devonian animals Late Devonian fish Devonian bony fish Prehistoric fish of Australia Prehistoric lobe-finned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarcopterygii
Sarcopterygii (; ) — sometimes considered synonymous with Crossopterygii () — is a taxon (traditionally a class or subclass) of the bony fishes known as the lobe-finned fishes. The group Tetrapoda, a mostly terrestrial superclass including amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids (with mammals being the only extant group), evolved from certain sarcopterygians; under a cladistic view, tetrapods are themselves considered a subgroup within Sarcopterygii. The known extant non-tetrapod sarcopterygians include two species of coelacanths and six species of lungfishes. Characteristics Early lobe-finned fishes are bony fish with fleshy, lobed, paired fins, which are joined to the body by a single bone. The fins of lobe-finned fishes differ from those of all other fish in that each is borne on a fleshy, lobelike, scaly stalk extending from the body. The scales of sarcopterygians are true scaloids, consisting of lamellar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groenlandaspis
''Groenlandaspis'' is an extinct genus of arthrodire from the Late Devonian. Fossils of the different species are found in late Devonian strata in all continents except eastern Asia. The generic name commemorates the fact that the first specimens of the type species were found in Greenland. Description As with all other arthrodires, ''Groenlandaspis'' had a joint in the back of its head with its thoracic armor, allowing for its head to be thrown back, increasing its gape. However, as its head is somewhat compressed in comparison with many other arthrodires, and as the dorsal side came to a low, pyramid-like peak, it is believed that ''Groenlandaspis'' could not crane its head back very far. It was a relatively small fish, only in length on average, though one unusually large species, ''G. riniensis'', reached almost a metre in length Gess, Robert W.; Whitfield, Alan K. (August 22, 2020). "Estuarine fish and tetrapod evolution: insights from a Late Devonian (Famennian) Gondwanan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthrodira
Arthrodira (Greek for "jointed neck") is an order of extinct armored, jawed fishes of the class Placodermi that flourished in the Devonian period before their sudden extinction, surviving for about 50 million years and penetrating most marine ecological niches. Arthrodires were the largest and most diverse of all groups of Placoderms. Description Arthrodire placoderms are notable for the movable joint between armor surrounding their heads and bodies. Like all placoderms, they lacked distinct teeth; instead, they used the sharpened edges of a bony plate on their jawbone as a biting surface. The eye sockets are protected by a bony ring, a feature shared by birds and some ichthyosaurs. Early arthrodires, such as the genus '' Arctolepis'', were well-armoured fishes with flattened bodies. The largest member of this group, '' Dunkleosteus'', was a true superpredator of the latest Devonian period, reaching as much as 6 m in length. In contrast, the long-nosed '' Rolfosteus'' measured j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bothriolepis
''Bothriolepis'' (from el, βόθρος , 'trench' and el, λεπίς 'scale') was a widespread, abundant and diverse genus of antiarch placoderms that lived during the Middle to Late Devonian period of the Paleozoic Era. Historically, ''Bothriolepis'' resided in an array of paleo-environments spread across every paleocontinent, including near shore marine and freshwater settings. Most species of ''Bothriolepis'' were characterized as relatively small, benthic, freshwater detritivores (organisms that obtain nutrients by consuming decomposing plant/animal material), averaging around in length. However, the largest species, ''B. rex'', had an estimated bodylength of . Although expansive with over 60 species found worldwide, comparatively ''Bothriolepis'' is not unusually more diverse than most modern bottom dwelling species around today. Classification ''Bothriolepis'' is a genus placed within the placoderm order Antiarchi. The earliest antiarch placoderms first appeared in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Placodermi
Placodermi (from Greek πλάξ 'plate' and δέρμα 'skin', literally ' plate-skinned') is a class of armoured prehistoric fish, known from fossils, which lived from the Silurian to the end of the Devonian period. Their head and thorax were covered by articulated armoured plates and the rest of the body was scaled or naked, depending on the species. Placoderms were among the first jawed fish; their jaws likely evolved from the first of their gill arches. Placoderms are thought to be paraphyletic, consisting of several distinct outgroups or sister taxa to all living jawed vertebrates, which originated among their ranks. In contrast, one 2016 analysis concluded that placodermi are likely monophyletic, though these analyses have been further dismissed with more transitional taxa between placoderms and modern gnathosthomes, solidifying their paraphyletic status. Placoderms were also the first fish to develop pelvic fins, the precursor to hindlimbs in tetrapods, as well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antiarchi
Antiarchi ("opposite anus") is an order of heavily armored placoderms. The antiarchs form the second-most successful group of placoderms after the arthrodires in terms of numbers of species and range of environments. The order's name was coined by Edward Drinker Cope, who, when examining some fossils that he thought were armored tunicates related to '' Chelysoma'', mistakenly thought that the orbital fenestra (i.e., the hole in the headshield for the eyes, nose and pineal foramen) was the opening for the mouth, or oral siphon, and that the opening for the anal siphon was on the other side of the body, as opposed to having both oral and anal siphons together at one end. The front portions of their bodies were heavily armored, to the point of literally resembling a box with eyes, with the sometimes scaled, sometimes naked rear portions often becoming sinuous, particularly with later forms. The pair of pectoral fins were modified into a pair of caliper-like, or arthropod-like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
