Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Open Access Articles

Emsian (Early Devonian) Tetracorals (Cnidaria) From Grattai Creek, New South Wales, Anthony Wright

Anthony Wright

The tetracoral species Phillipsastrea scotti sp. nov. and Trapezophyllum grattaiensis sp. nov. are described from strata assigned to the middle Emsian (nothoperbonus to inversus conodont zones: Early Devonian) part of the Cunningham Formation at Grattai Creek, west of Mudgee, N.S.W. For comparison with the former, Phillipsastrea oculoides, from the Early Devonian (late Pragian or early Emsian) Garra Formation in the Wellington area of N.S.W., is revised on the basis of the type material; new longitudinal thin sections show indisputable horseshoe dissepiments and trabecular fans in this species.

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Recent Discoveries And A Review Of The Ordovician Faunas Of New Zealand, Ian Percival, Roger Cooper, Yong Yi Zhen, J Simes, Anthony Wright

Anthony Wright

Fossiliferous Ordovician rocks are of limited extent in New Zealand, being largely restricted to northwest Nelson and Westland in the northern part of the South Island, with some isolated exposures at the southern extremity of Fiordland (Fig. 1). The known stratigraphic record, though incomplete, covers much of the period, and new information from study and revision of old collections (mostly dating from the 1960s and 1970s) continues to fill in the gaps. These data are critical to a better understanding of New Zealand’s place in the Ordovician world, when it occupied an isolated position facing the palaeo-Pacific Ocean offshore to …

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New Genera Of Early Devonian Calceoloid Corals From Australia And France, Anthony Wright

Anthony Wright

Two new Early Devonian genera and species of the family Calceolidae, phylum Cnidaria, are erected; these are Richtereola disruptus n. gen., n. sp., from the Emsian (perbonus conodont zone) of the Taemas area, NSW, Australia and from the Emsian Izarne Formation (gronbergi conodont zone) of the Montagne Noire, southern France; and Savageola unicus n. gen., n. sp. from the Lochkovian (eurekaensis conodont zone) Mandagery Park Formation at Manildra, NSW, Australia. These taxa are essentially defined on opercular characters; well-preserved opercula are essential for confident generic assignment of calceoloid material. Savageola is known only from eastern Australia, but Richtereola is known …

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Phylum Cnidaria: Corals, Medusae, Hydroids, Myxozoans, Stephen Cairns, Lisa-Ann Gershwin, Fred Brook, Philip Pugh, Elliot Dawson, Oscar Ocana Vicente, Willem Vervoort, Gary Williams, Jeanette Watson, Dennis Opresko, Peter Schuchert, P Hine, Dennis Gordon, Hamish Campbell, Anthony Wright, Juan Sanchez, Daphne Fautin

Anthony Wright

This ancient phylum of mostly marine organisms is best known for its contribution to geomorphological features, forming thousands of square kilometres of coral reefs in warm tropical waters. Their fossil remains contribute to some limestones. Cnidarians are also significant components of the plankton, where large medusae – popularly called jellyfish – and colonial forms like Portuguese man-of-war and stringy siphonophores prey on other organisms including small fish. Some of these species are justly feared by humans for their stings, which in some cases can be fatal. Certainly, most New Zealanders will have encountered cnidarians when rambling along beaches and fossicking …

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Emsian (Early Devonian) Tetracorals (Cnidaria) From Grattai Creek, New South Wales, Anthony Wright

Anthony Wright

Recent Discoveries And A Review Of The Ordovician Faunas Of New Zealand, Ian Percival, Roger Cooper, Yong Yi Zhen, J Simes, Anthony Wright

Anthony Wright

New Genera Of Early Devonian Calceoloid Corals From Australia And France, Anthony Wright

Anthony Wright

Anthony Wright