The first tetrapod remains from the Upper Jurassic Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed

Abstract

A single tetrapod tooth has been recovered from the Upper Jurassic Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed of New South Wales, Australia. It is the first evidence of a tetrapod to have been found at this locality in over 130 years of excavation. The tooth is likely from a temnospondyl amphibian. Herein, we document the discovery, discuss the potential explanations as to why tetrapod remains are so scarce from this locality and provide hypotheses as to how this tooth came to be preserved.

Lachlan J. Hart [[email protected]], Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales 2052, Australia; Australian Museum Research Institute, 1 William Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2010, Australia; Matthew R. McCurry [[email protected]], Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales 2052, Australia; Australian Museum Research Institute, 1 William Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2010, Australia; Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA; Michael Frese [[email protected]], Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia; Australian Museum Research Institute, 1 William Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2010, Australia; Thomas J. Peachey [[email protected]], Australian Museum Research Institute, 1 William Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2010, Australia; Jochen Brocks [[email protected]], Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia.

Keywords:

• Talbragar
• Jurassic
• Australia
• Temnospondyli
• tooth
• microCT
• plicidentine

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Levi Beeching and Michael Turner (CTLab, ANU) for technical assistance, Tim Senden (ANU) for stimulating discussions and access to the scanning facilities, John Long for assistance in taxonomic identification, Nigel McGrath for allowing access to his property on which this fossil was found, and Patrick Smith (AM) for helpful discussions on the stratigraphy and lithology and for providing the locality map in Fig. 1. We thank CSIRO's Australian National Insect Collection for providing free access to imaging equipment. We appreciate the comments from the Chief Editor of Alcheringa, Benjamin Kear, as well as our reviewer Bryan Gee (University of Washington) and an anonymous referee, who improved the quality of the manuscript. This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship to LJH.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).