Mount Howitt fossil site
The Mount Howitt fossil site is a fossil locality, part of the Bindaree Formation of the Avon River Group. It is located in eastern Victoria, Australia, near Mansfield. Its fossils date back to the Givetian stage of the Middle Devonian epoch, between 387 to 382 million years ago, though it was once considered Frasnian in age.[1]
The site presents remarkable fossil species diversity, and preserves fish fossils across a wide range of life stages from larvae to mature fish, over tens of millions of years. Mt. Howitt contributes an important record of the evolution of fish across a number of different marine and freshwater environments, and the development of features that allowed vertebrates to depart from the water to colonize terrestrial environments for the first time in Earth's history. The fossils discovered at the site possess outstanding heritage value to the nation for their place in the evolution of vertebrates during what is known as the 'Age of Fishes'.[2] Some of the fossil taxa discovered at Mt. Howitt include the canowindrid Beelarongia patrichae,[3] the placoderms Austrophyllolepis ritchiei[4] and three species of Bothriolepis: B. cullodenensis, B. fergusoni and B. gippslandiensis,[5] as well lungfishes such as Barwickia downunda and Howidipterus donnae[1] and the coelacanth Gavinia syntrips[6].
Fossil content
[edit]Gnathostomata
[edit]| Genus | Species | Clade | Citations | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austrophyllolepis | A. ritchiei | Arthrodira, | [4] |  |
| Barwickia | B. downunda | Dipnoi, | [1] | |
| Beelarongia | B. patrichae | Tetrapodomorpha, | [3] | |
| Bothriolepis | B. cullodenensis | Antiarchi, | [5] | .png) |
| B. fergusoni | ||||
| B. gippslandiensis | ||||
| Culmacanthus | C. stewarti | Diplacanthiformes incertae sedis | [7] | |
| Gavinia | G. syntrips | Coelacanthiformes, | [6] |  |
| Groenlandaspis | G. howittensis | Arthrodira, | [8] |  |
| Howidipterus | H. donnae | Dipnoi, | [1] | |
| Howittacanthus | H. kentoni | Acanthodiformes, | [9] | |
| Howittichthys | H. warrenae | Elpistostegalia incertae sedis | [10] | |
| Howqualepis | H. rostridens | Palaeonisciformes
(Palaeoniscoidei incertae sedis) |
[11] | |
| Marsdenichthys | M. longioccipitus | Tetrapodomorpha incertae sedis | [12][6][13] |
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Long, J.A. & Clement, A.M. 2009. The postcranial anatomy of two Middle Devonian lungfishes (Osteichthyes, Dipnoi) from Mt. Howitt, Victoria, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 66(2): 189–202. doi:10.24199/j.mmv.2009.66.17
- ↑ Commonwealth of Australia. (2008). Inclusion of a Place in the National Heritage List: Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves. Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Special, No. S237, 7 November 2008.
- 1 2 Long, J.A. 1987. An unusual osteolepiform fish from the Late Devonian of Victoria, Australia. Palaeontology, 30(4): 839–852.
- 1 2 Long, J.A. 1984. New phyllolepids from Victoria and the relationships of the group. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 107(3): 263–308
- 1 2 Long, J.A. 1983b. New bothriolepid fish from the Late Devonian of Victoria, Australia. Palaeontology 26(2): 295–320, pl. 42
- 1 2 3 Long, J.A. 1999. A new genus of fossil coelacanth (Osteichthyes: Coelacanthiformes) from the Middle Devonian of southeastern Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 57: 37–53
- ↑ Long, J.A. 1983a. A new diplacanthoid acanthodian from the Late Devonian of Victoria. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 1: 51–65
- ↑ Fitzpatrick AN, Clement AM, Long JA. Unique dental arrangement in a new species, Groenlandaspis howittensis (Placodermi, Arthrodira) from the Middle Devonian of Mount Howitt, Victoria, Australia. PeerJ. 2024 Dec 23;12:e18759. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18759. PMID: 39726751; PMCID: PMC11670761
- ↑ Long, J.A. 1986. A new Late Devonian acanthodian fish from Mt. Howitt, Victoria, Australia, with remarks on acanthodian biogeography. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 98: 1–17
- ↑ Long, J.A. & Holland, T. 2008. A possible 'elpistostegalid' fish from the Devonian of Gondwana. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 120: 184–193
- ↑ Long, J.A. 1988. New palaeoniscoid fishes from the Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous of Victoria. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 7: 1–64
- ↑ Long, J.A. 1985. The structure and relationships of a new osteolepiform fish from the Late Devonian of Victoria, Australia. Alcheringa 9: 1–22
- ↑ Holland, T., Long, J.A. & Snitting, D. 2010. New information on the enigmatic tetrapodomorph fish Marsdenichthys longioccipitus (Long, 1985). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(1): 68–77. doi:10.1080/02724630903409105