Devonian Fish Fossils from the Knobby Sandstone, Canning Basin

Fragmentary Late Devonian (likely Famennian) fish remains from the Knobby Sandstone in the eastern Canning Basin, Western Australia. The fauna includes a new species of Bothriolepis, other antiarch placoderms, and rhipidistian teeth and scales, preserved as moulds in coarse sandstone. The data was published by Geoscience Australia and last updated on 2026-03-25.

Use Cases

• Classifying Devonian antiarch placoderm species based on described dermal plate fragments.
• Analyzing paleoenvironmental conditions based on the high-energy depositional context suggested by fragmentary preservation.
• Correlating Late Devonian vertebrate assemblages using the described faunal composition.
• Studying the co-occurrence of fish and plant remains, including Leptophloeum australe, in a non-marine clastic formation.

Strengths

• Includes a described new species of the antiarch Bothriolepis.
• Fauna is assigned a specific geological age (Late Devonian, Famennian).
• Spatial coverage is precisely defined as the Knobby Sandstone, eastern Canning Basin, Western Australia.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Descriptive paleontological study of collected fossil specimens.

Time Range

Late Devonian (Famennian)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 16:44:28.574304; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Billiluna, eastern Canning Basin, Western Australia