Rare Fossils (Conulata- Rostroconchia- Nautiloidea) from the Late Ordovician of Central New South Wales

Abstract

Four decades of detailed palaeontological investigations into highly fossiliferous Upper Ordovician strata of the Macquarie Arc in central New South Wales has revealed several unique specimens which in some instances represent the only known examples of phyla or subphyla in this region. Conulariids have not previously been reported from Ordovician rocks in NSW- here is documented Conularia sp., known from one specimen found in the Fossil Hill Limestone, and several microscopic specimens of different genera (including Metaconularia? sp., and the new genus and species Microconularia fragilis) from deep water allochthonous limestones (Malongulli Formation, and Downderry Limestone Member of the Ballingoole Limestone). The first Ordovician rostroconch mollusc from NSW is described from a solitary individual of Eopteria, from the top of the Malongulli Formation. A coiled nautiloid tentatively identified as Plectoceras from the Gunningbland Formation, again represented by a single specimen, is also described and illustrated.

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