Australasian Fossils: A Students' Manual of PalaeontologyChapman, Frederick
Science
Australasian Fossils: A Students' Manual of Palaeontology
Chapman, Frederick
Paleontology -- Australia
The Jurassic beds of Victoria contain three genera. _Psilichthys selwyni_,
a doubtful palaeoniscid was described from Carapook, Co. Dundas; whilst
_Leptolepis_, a genus found in the Trias of New South Wales and the Lias
and Oolite of Europe, is represented by _L. crassicauda_ from Casterton,
associated with the typical Jurassic fern, _Taeniopteris_. In the Jurassic
beds of South Gippsland, at Cape Paterson, an interesting splenial tooth
of the mudfish, _Ceratodus_, was found, named _C. avus_ (Fig. 126). Since
then, in a bore-core from Kirrak near the same place a fish scale was
discovered (Fig. 127) which, by its shape, size and structure seems to
differ in no way from the living lung-fish of Queensland (Fig. 128). It
is reasonable to infer that tooth and scale belong to the same species;
and in view of the close relationship of the tooth with that of the living
mudfish, rather than with that of the _Ceratodus_ found fossil in the
Mesozoic of Europe, it may be referred to _Neoceratodus_, in which genus
the living species is now placed.
[Illustration: =Fig. 127--Scale of Ceratodus (Neoceratodus)= (?)avus, A.
S. Woodw. Jurassic. Kirrak, S. Gippsland, Victoria. About nat. size]
[Illustration: =Fig. 128--The Queensland Lung-Fish=
or Barramunda (Neoceratodus forsteri). About 1/12th. nat. size
(_After Lydekker, in Warne's Natural History_)
]
[Illustration: =Fig. 129--Leptolepis gregarius=, A. S. Woodw.
Talbragar Series, Jurassic. Talbragar River, New South Wales 1/2 nat.
size]
From the Jurassic beds (Talbragar Series) of New South Wales, an
interesting collection of ganoid fishes has been described, comprising
_Coccolepis australis_, _Aphnelepis australis_, _Aetheolepis mirabilis_,
_Archaeomaene tenuis_, _A. robustus_, _Leptolepis talbragarensis_, _L.
lowei_ and _L. gregarina_ (Fig. 129).
=Lower Cretaceous Fishes.--=
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