Biogeography of Ordovician sponges

1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo G. Carrera ◽  
J. Keith Rigby
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Biogeographic Patterns ◽  
Early Ordovician ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Argentine Precordillera

Sponges have an unrealized potential importance in biogeographic analysis. Biogeographic patterns determined from our analysis of all published data on distribution of Ordovician genera indicate Early Ordovician sponge faunas have relatively low diversity and are completely dominated by demosponges. Early Ordovician (Ibexian) faunas are characterized by the widespread co-occurrence ofArchaeoscyphiaand the problematicCalathium.This association is commonly found in biohermal structures. Middle Ordovician faunas show an increase in diversity, and two broad associations are differentiated: Appalachian faunas (including Southern China and the Argentine Precordillera) and Great Basin faunas.Late Ordovician faunas show important changes in diversity and provincialism. Hexactinellid and calcareous sponges became important and new demosponge families appeared. Four Mohawkian-Cincinnatian associations are recognized here, including: 1) Midcontinent faunas; 2) Baltic faunas; 3) New South Wales faunas; and 4) Western North American (California and Alaska) faunas. However, two separate biogeographic associations are differentiated based on faunal differences. These are a Pacific association (western North American and New South Wales) and an Atlantic association (Midcontinent Laurentia and Baltica).Distribution of sponge genera and migration patterns are utilized to consider paleogeographic dispositions of the different continental plates, climatic features, and oceanic currents. Such an analysis points to close paleogeographic affinities between the Argentine Precordillera and Laurentian Appalachian faunas. However, significant endemicity and the occurrence of extra-Laurentian genera suggest a relative isolation of the Precordillera terrane during the Late Ibexian-Whiterockian. The study also shows a faunal migration from the Appalachian region to South China during the Middle Ordovician and the migration of faunas from Baltica to Laurentia in the Late Ordovician. The occurrence of Laurentian migrants in New South Wales during the Late Ordovician could be related to inferred oceanic current circulation between these two areas, although other paleogeographic features may be involved.

The first well-preserved radiolarians from the Ordovician of Australia

1986 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. D. Webby ◽  
W. M. Blom
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Debris Flows ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Siliceous Sponge ◽  
Radiolarian Assemblage ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Limestone Breccia

Late Ordovician radiolarians are described from allochthonous limestone breccia deposits of the graptolitic Malongulli Formation of central New South Wales. Included among the forms are the new ‘palaeoactinommid’ genus Kalimnasphaera with new species K. maculosa, the new entactiniid species, Entactinia subulata, and the new anakrusid species, Auliela taplowensis. A number of other entactiniids and the first recorded Ordovician ‘rotasphaerids’ are placed in open nomenclature. Graptolite faunas of the Malongulli Formation indicate that the deposits range in age from the Eastonian Zone of Dicranograptus hians kirki to the Bolindian Zone of Climacograptus uncinatus, that is, from latest Caradoc to early or middle Ashgill in age. This is only the second known well-preserved radiolarian assemblage to be illustrated from Late Ordovician (late Caradoc–Ashgill) successions, and the earliest known from Australia. The radiolarians typically occur in tabularly shaped, laminated lime-mudstone clasts with an abundance of siliceous sponge remains. These clasts appear to be formed from peri-platform ooze of the ‘deeper-water’ slope facies, which became incorporated in debris flows moving into the adjoining basin.

Middle and Late Ordovician magmatic evolution of the Macquarie Arc, Lachlan Orogen, New South Wales

2007 ◽  
Vol 54 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 181-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Crawford ◽  
S. Meffre ◽  
R. J. Squire ◽  
L. M. Barron ◽  
T. J. Falloon
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Magmatic Evolution ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Lachlan Orogen

Recovering and Reporting Australia's Early Colonial Case Law: The Macquarie Project

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 659-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Kercher
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
North American ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Penal Colony ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Late Eighteenth

When it was established in 1788, New South Wales became the most remote, and most peculiar, of the British empire's overseas colonies. The founding colony of what would eventually become Australia, it was established as a penal colony, a place to send the unwanted criminals of Britain and Ireland. Britain lost more than the majority of its North American possessions in the late eighteenth century. It also lost its principal repository for unwanted felons. New South Wales filled the gap.

Late Ordovician nautiloids from central New South Wales, Australia

1985 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Stait ◽  
Barry D. Webby ◽  
Ian G. Percival
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
South Wales

Functional-Morphology of the Limbs of Thylacoleo-Carnifex Owen (Thylacoleonidae, Marsupialia)

1988 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 251 ◽  
Author(s):  
ME Finch ◽  
L Freedman
Keyword(s):  
Functional Morphology ◽  
Vertebral Column ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Panthera Leo ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Limb Segment ◽  
Limb Bones ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Limb Proportions

The limb bones and girdles of an almost complete specimen of the extinct 'marsupial lion' Thylacoleo carnifex, from Moree, New South Wales, have been fully described pictorially, metrically and in text. To investigate limb function, intra- and inter-limb segment indices and limb proportions standardised against the presacral vertebral column, were calculated for 11 samples of extant Australian marsupials. Comparisons were made between these values, those for Thylacoleo and published data for extant placental carnivores. The Thylacoleo fore- and hindlimbs were almost equal in length (FL/HL, 94%) and relatively long compared to the vertebral column (79% and 84%). In the forelimb the radius was clearly longer than the humerus (115%), and the hindlimb the tibia was considerably shorter than the femur (82%). Amongst the marsupials, the main Thylacoleo indices were most similar to those of Sarcophilus, but with some significant differences, notably in propodial/epipodial length ratios. Compared to Panthera leo there were many marked similarities. Morphologically, the Thylacoleo scapula conforms to that found in walking and trotting, rather than climbing, viverrids; the pelvis similarly agrees with that of ambulators and cursors. It was concluded that Thylacoleo carnifex was a slow- medium cursor, possibly capable of leaping. There was also a series of adaptations such as the length of the radius, the stout olecranon, the blade-like fifth metatarsal and the massive terminal phalanx of digit I, clearly implying a carnivorous habit.

Trilobites of the suborder Illaenina from the Silurian of north Queensland, Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Holloway ◽  
Philip D. Lane
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Junior Synonym ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Senior Synonym

AbstractThe trilobite fauna of the middle Silurian (Telychian to possibly earliest Sheinwoodian) Tomcat Creek limestone in the Broken River Province of north Queensland is dominated by the suborder Illaenina, including illaenimorphs (Illaeninae and Bumastinae) and members of the Scutelluidae. Scutelluidae are most diverse, with eight genera, of whichDolabrapex,Iotoryx,Perizostra, andQuintoniaare new.Perizostrais the first scutelluid with a cephalon that may be described as of phacomorph appearance. Illaenimorphs are represented by three genera, includingOpsypharus, which is regarded as a senior synonym ofParacybantyxbut distinct fromFailleanawith which it has been placed in synonymy by some authors. Thirteen species are new:Cybantyx?ergodes,Opsypharus pandanensis,Australoscutellum talenti,Dolabrapex acomus,Illaenoscutellum psephos,Iotoryx clarksoni,Japonoscutellum mawsonae,J. drakton,J. fractum,Kosovopeltis avita,Perizostra campbelli,Quintonia arata, andQ. pavo. A species ofStenopariais placed in open nomenclature. The species ofAustraloscutellum,Illaenoscutellum, and possiblyKosovopeltisare the oldest known representatives of those genera. These genera andJaponoscutellumare also common in faunas from limestones of Wenlock to Ludlow age in central western New South Wales, reflecting the similarity in lithofacies. The monotypic Late Ordovician genusCraigheadia, which has been regarded as a scutelluid, belongs to the Lichidae and is probably a junior synonym ofLeiolichas.

Significance of clinopyroxene compositions from the Cudgegong Volcanics and Toolamanang Volcanics: Cudgegong-Mudgee district, NSW, Australia

1985 ◽  
Vol 49 (353) ◽  
pp. 591-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Pemberton ◽  
R. Offler
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Structural Formula ◽  
Primary Phase ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Parent Magma ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
Altered Basalt

SynopisClinopyroxene phenocrysts and groundmass crystals are relict phases in altered basalt and basaltic andesite lavas, and arenites of the Cudgegong Volcanics and Toolamanang Volcanics, Cudgegong-Mudgee district, New South Wales. Petrography, field relationships and clinopyroxene compositions indicate that basaltic blocks in the latter unit are reworked from the Cudgegong Volcanics. Clinopyroxene phenocrysts show a restricted compositional range and minor Feenrichment from core to rim, features considered indicative of a calc-alkaline parent magma. It is proposed that the Cudgegong Volcanics crystallized under hydrous conditions, at least in the later stages, with rising fO2 resulting in a Fe-Ti oxide crystallizing as a primary phase. The clinopyroxenes are considered to have crystallized at moderate (5–6 kbar) and falling pressures and at minimum temperatures in the range 900 to 1000°C. Coupled substitutions affecting the “other” components in the clinopyroxene structural formula indicate that the ivAl-viFe3+, ivAl-viAl and ivAl-viTi4+ couples are important. The Sofala Volcanics, south of the study area, and the Cudgegong Volcanics are similar in age, petrography and stratigraphic position, and contain relict clinopyroxenes which are chemically similar. This suggests that the units are laterally equivalent and adds further evidence to the proposal that an oceanic island arc system was active in central western New South Wales during the Late Ordovician.

Ordovician sponge spicules from New South Wales, Australia

1993 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. D. Webby ◽  
J. Trotter
Keyword(s):  
Debris Flows ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
New Genera ◽  
Siliceous Sponge ◽  
Upper Cambrian ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Sponge Spicules ◽  
First Time

An abundant, varied, and well-preserved assemblage of discrete sponge spicules of late Ordovician age is described from the Malongulli Formation of central New South Wales. It is associated with one of the most diverse Ordovician siliceous sponge faunas known. The assemblage occurs in allochthonous limestone blocks within breccia deposits of a predominantly graptolitic and spiculitic siltstone succession, and is composed mainly of hexactinellid spicule types. Included are a number of distinctive forms, recognized as new taxa—Silicunculus bengtsoni, Kometia cruciformis, Chelispongia prima, and Pseudolancicula exigua. All are new genera except Silicunculus Bengtson, 1986, which was previously described from the upper Cambrian of Queensland. The problematical Anomaloides reticulatus Ulrich, 1878, is reported for the first time from Australia. A wide variety of other diagnostic, but more generalized, spicule types also occurs, including stauractines, pinnular and nonpinnular pentactines and hexactines, ornamented oxyhexasters and echinhexasters, clavules, anchorate root-tufts, and uncinates. The pinnular pentactines may be assigned to the form genus Palaeorubus Ishiga (in Ishiga et al., 1987), interpreted incorrectly by Ishiga as a radiolarian. The sponges, discrete spicules, and radiolarians of these limestone clasts were transported in debris flows to a basinal setting from peri-platform oozes that formed on the flanks of the shallow offshore island-arc platform of the Molong High.

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