arly Devonian (Lochkovian) Rugose Corals from the Beloura Tank Limestone Member in Central New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

Based on recent collections by the Geological Survey of NSW, this study describes rugose corals from the Beloura Tank Limestone Member of the Baledmund Formation within the Kopyje Group in central New South Wales. Identified species include Neomphyma karpinskiense Shurygina, 1968, Xystriphyllum cf. parvum Yü and Jell, 1990, Carlinastraea? cf. acanthus Yü and Jell, 1990, and Battersbyia cf. simplex Vaganova in Shurygina, 1968, together with an indeterminate ptenophylline species. These taxa indicate an early Lochkovian age for the Beloura Tank Limestone Member, suggesting correlation with the Elura Limestone Member of the Brookong Formation in the Cobar Basin and the Shield Creek Formation of Queensland, among those with the earliest Devonian rugose coral assemblages in eastern Australia. Similar rugose coral assemblages have also been documented from the Ural Mountains of Russia, the Great Basin region of North America, and the Altai-Sayan and Tian-Shan Fold Belts of central Asia, implying close biogeographic linkages between Australia and these regions during the Early Devonian.