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Showing results for tags 'cowra'.
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Hi Folks, A couple of weeks ago we went on a 5 day trip around NSW to find a few different fossils which I'll post another day, but here are some of our best finds from near Cowra, NSW Australia. So in a nutshell, there's a quarry near Cowra that was quarried to be used as road base in the area, and thats how these specimens were found. You can find blocks of the stuff on the side of the road if you're lucky. Since you can't get into the quarry nowadays because the owner has pretty much lost the plot this is the only way to collect material. #1 Cowralepis mclachlani. This is one of a few species of fish at the site and is by far the most common. We have never found any other species there. Continued...
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Taxonomy from Ritchie 2005. Diagnosis fro Ritchie 2005, p. 222: "Moderately large phyllolepid, reaching ca. 35 cm in length. Widest part of nuchal plate lies just posterior to centre of ossification; anterior nuchal margin more angular than in Placolepis, less angular than in Austrophyllolepis and Phyllolepis. Nuchal plate same length as or longer than median dorsal plate in juveniles; nuchal plate 20-60% longer than median dorsal plate in adults. Supraorbital canal, infraorbital canal nd pit-line grooves not developed on nuchal plate. Lateral line canal groove on paranuchal pate diverges anteriorly from nuchal margin and canal groove crosses anterolateral margin between 78-92% PNu length. Marginal plate separates postorbital and paranuchal plates. Marginal plate and posterior division of postorbital plate lack contact with the nuchal plate in juveniles, leaving fenestra between them; marginal plate and posterior division of postorbital plate meet lateral margin of nuchal in adults, fenestra reduced. Posterior dorsolateral plate present; small, subtriangular, hidden under lateral margin of median dorsal plate; posterior lateral plate absent. Anterior and posterior median ventral plates both present. Occipital region of endocranium ossified; vertebral column fused anteriorly, forming long narrow synarcual under median dorsal plate." Line drawing from Ritcie 2005, p. 222: References: Ritchie, A. (2005): Cowralepis, a new genus of phyllolepid fish (Pisces, Placodermi) from the late middle Devonian of New South Wales, Australia. Proceedings- Linnean Society of New South Wales 126:215-259 · March 2005. Carr, RK, Johanson, Z., Ritchie, A. (2009) The phyllolepid placoderm Cowralepis mclachlani: insights into the evolution of feeding mechanisms in jawed vertebrates. J. Morphol., 2009 Jul;270(7):775-804. doi: 10.1002/jmor.10719.
