Revision of the Early Devonian tabulate coral Pleurodictyum bifidum from New South Wales

Abstract

Plusquellec, Y. & Wright, A.J., October 2017. Revision of the Early Devonian tabulate coral Pleurodictyum bifidum from New South Wales. Alcheringa 41, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

The tabulate coral Pleurodictyum bifidum Jones, 1944, from the Early Devonian (Pragian or lower Emsian) Garra Formation of central New South Wales, Australia is revised on the basis of the holotype and three other specimens. It is selected as the type species of the new monotypic genus Bifidomeria (Family Roemeriidae), which differs from Roemeria in its strictly cerioid corallum, its bifid septal spines and aspects of its microstructure. Study of the detailed microstructure of two other tabulate corals from the Devonian of New South Wales has led to the following revised generic assignments: Michelinia progenitor Chapman, 1921, previously assigned to Roemeripora, is assigned to Roemeria, and Holacanthopora clarkei Wright & Flory, 1980 is assigned to Michelinia.

Yves Plusquellec [[email protected]], Université de Bretagne Occidentale, CNRS-UMR 6538 ‘Domaines océaniques’, Laboratoire de Paléontologie, UFR Sciences et Techniques, 6 avenue Le Gorgeu, CS 98837, F-29283 Brest, France; Anthony Wright [[email protected]], GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia.

Key words:

• Bifidomeria
• Pleurodictyum
• Roemeria
• tabulate corals
• Garra Formation
• NSW
• Early Devonian

Acknowledgements

We thank: Robert Jones and Ross Pogson (Australian Museum) and Ian Percival and Yong Yi Zhen (Geological Survey of NSW) for assistance in the successful search for the second Basnett & Colditz specimen, for access to material and for curatorial assistance; John Pickett (formerly Geological Survey of NSW) for information about the Garra specimen that he collected; Terry Lachlan (University of Wollongong) for assistance with scanning thin-sections; Jacob Leloux (Leiden) for clarification of the dates of the G.A. Goldfuss Petrefacta Germaniae series, based on the publication by Quenstedt (1963); and Alain Le Hérissé and Remy Gourvennec, Université de Bretagne Occidentale (Brest) for photographic and Photoshop assistance. Dean Oliver assisted greatly with drafting Fig. 1. Two reviewers are thanked for their very helpful comments.