A New Ophiuroid Fossil from Cretaceous Strata of Bathurst Island

A new ophiuroid species, Ophiomicros bathursti gen. et sp.nov., is described from Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) strata of Bathurst Island, Northern Territory. The dataset, provided by Geoscience Australia Data, includes documentation in PDF and HTML formats. It was last updated on 2026-05-14.

Use Cases

• Classify fossil specimens based on the described morphological features like unusually large oral plates.
• Conduct phylogenetic analysis of ophiuroid genera based on comparisons to Ophiura and Amphiura.
• Study the paleoenvironment of the Cenomanian period in the Northern Territory region.

Strengths

• Describes a newly identified genus and species, Ophiomicros bathursti.
• Provides a specific geological context: Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) strata of Bathurst Island, Northern Territory.
• Compares distinguishing morphological features, such as unusually large oral plates and small adoral plates.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic/temporal bias inherent to data_gov_au.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Time Range

Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 04:01:15.727156; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Bathurst Island, Northern Territory, Australia