Gnathostome microremains from the lower Devonian Jawf Formation, Saudi Arabia

• Main Authors: Burrow, Carole J., Lelievre, Hervé, Janjou, Dominique
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Paleontological Soc Inc 2006
• Subjects: Paleontology; Placoderm Scales; Australia; 260112 Palaeontology; C1; 780105 Biological sciences; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:80163

Calcareotis horizons in the Qasr and Hammamiyat members (Lower Devonian, ?Pragian and lower Emsian) of file Jawf Formation, northwestern Saudi Arabia, yielded a rich assemblage of microremains from acanthodian, placoderm. chondrichthyan, and sarcopterygian vertebrates. The most abundant elements are scales from acanthodians Nostolepis spp., Milesacanthus ancestralis n. sp., Canadatepis? sp., and Gomphonchus? fromensis. scales and dermal bone fragments from acanthothoracid and ?rhenanid placoderms, and teeth from onychodontids. Rarer occurrences include ?chondrichthyan scales of several different morphotypes, and petalichthid and ?ptyctodontid placoderm elements. The Qasr Member assemblage shows a close resemblance to slightly older faunas front the Lochkovian of Brittany and Spain. The Hammamiyat Member microvertebrate fauna shows closest affinity with that of the stratigraphically lower Qasr Member, with similarities also to coeval faunas from southeastern Australia, late Emsian/Eifelian faunas from west-central Europe, and the Givetian Aztec Siltstone fauna from Antarctica.