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Upper Devonian (Famennian) Ammonoids from the Canning Basin, Western Australia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 December 2017
Abstract
The inter-reef Virgin Hills Formation in the Canning Basin of Western Australia contains a diverse and abundant ammonoid fauna. This fauna is comparable in taxonomic diversity and abundance to the rich ammonoid faunas of Europe and North Africa. Of the four Stufen of the Famennian part of the classic German section, three (do II, III, IV, and V) are represented in Western Australia by ammonoids. The similarity of the Western Australian material with that of Europe and North Africa is remarkable, and suggests strongly the existence of an interbreeding relationship between the ammonoid populations of these areas which are now separated geographically by approximately 13,500 kilometers. Of the 36 recognized genera of Devonian goniatites known from Europe, 13 genera are described from Western Australia, as are four of the 32 known genera of clymeniids. Furthermore, the occurrence and nature of the ammonoid fauna indicates a close approximation of a living assemblege, or biocoenose. Several ontogenetic sequences which have long been recognized in Europe, and subsequently redescribed in Famennian strata of the Sahara region of North Africa, are duplicated by the Famennian ammonoids of Western Australia.
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- Copyright © 1975 Paleontological Society
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