A tetrapod fauna from the Permian of the Sydney Basin
Abstract
A recent discovery by Bruce Ross of Oceanic Coal Australia Ltd in the roof of the Borehole Seam, West Wallsend Colliery, is the first well documented evidence of a tetrapod fauna from the Permian of Australia. The Borehole Seam (Newcastle Coal Measures, Lambton Subgroup) lies immediately above the Waratah Sandstone which forms the base of the Newcastle Coal Measures and is most likely Kazanian in age. Preliminary study has shown that among the five tetrapod specimens recovered at least temnospondyl amphibians are represented. The only previous tetrapod body fossil from the Australian Permian is a temnospondyl amphibian, Bothriceps major, from Airly, to the northwest of Sydney. Tetrapod trace fossils have been known for some time in the southern part of the Sydney Basin where the Illawarra Coal Measures have yielded several sets of reptilian footprints. Tetrapods were therefore living to the north, west and south of the Sydney Basin in the Late Permian of Australia.
