PBDB Collection

Bluff Downs station, Main Quarry (Pliocene of Australia)

Where: Queensland, Australia (19.7° S, 145.6° E: paleocoordinates 22.5° S, 144.9° E)

• coordinate stated in text

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Allingham Formation, Zanclean (5.3 - 3.6 Ma)

• early Pliocene according to Becker et al. (2008)

•K/Ar dating of the basalts capping the Allingham Formation at its type section (Bluff Downs flow) reveal a minimum age of 3.6 Ma (see Mackness et al., 2000, Austr. J. Earth Sci. 47).

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: fluvial-lacustrine; siliciclastic sediments

• "lacustrine and fluviatile" according to several authors

• Mackness et al. (2000) briefly describe the fossiliferous sequence within the Allingham Fm. as clays silts, sands and calcareous sands. This sequence is overlain by a nodular limestone called the Chara Limestone which in turn is overlain by basalt. Below the erosive ase of the Allingham Fm. a lateritic horizon occurs in which channels are cut down filled with basalt pebble-bearing deposits. This implies that the Allingham Fm. in its entirety is coeval with the basaltic volcanism in that area and that basalt flows probably dammed streams and thus created the conditions under which the Allingham Fm. was deposited. The basalt flows including the Allingham Fm. are referred to as Nulla Basalt Province the oldest rocks of which are dated as 5.2 Ma. (see Mackness et al., 2000, and references therein).

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collection methods: Queensland Museum collections (QMF)

Primary reference: J. D. Scanlon. 2001. Montypythonoides: the Miocene snake Morelia riversleighensis (Smith & Plane, 1985) and the geographical origin of pythons. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 25:1-35 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 51266: authorized by Jason Head, entered by Jason Head on 01.06.2005, edited by John Alroy, Albert Garcia Selles, Philip Mannion, Bethany Allen, Mark Uhen and Torsten Liebrecht

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names

Aves
Suliformes - Anhingidae	Anhinga malagurala n. sp.² Anhinga malagurala n. sp.² Mackness 1995 darter
Reptilia
Crocodylia -	Pallimnarchus sp.⁸ Pallimnarchus sp.⁸ De Vis 1886 crocodilian QM F 17067 (dentary), 11623 (dentary) and 23240 (dentary)
Crocodylia - Crocodylidae	Crocodylus porosus³ Crocodylus porosus³ Schneider 1801 saltwater crocodile QM F9229 (snout)
Squamata - Pythonidae	Liasis dubudingala n. sp.⁶ Liasis dubudingala n. sp.⁶ Scanlon and Mackness 2002 python mentioned as ?Morelia sp. by Archer & Wade (1976, Mem. Qld. Mus. 17)
Testudines - Chelidae	Elseya nadibajagu n. sp.⁷ Elseya nadibajagu n. sp.⁷ Thomson and Mackness 1999 sideneck turtle QM F30576 (holotype), carapace and associated plastron; QM F30577; both collected at "Upper Andrews Quarry", Bluff Downs
Mammalia
Tribosphenida - Numbigilgidae	Numbigilga ernielundeliusi n. gen. n. sp.¹ Numbigilga ernielundeliusi n. gen. n. sp.¹ Beck et al. 2008 marsupial
Peramelemorphia - Peramelidae	Perameles allinghamensis⁴ Perameles allinghamensis⁴ Archer and Wade 1976 long-nosed bandicoot
Diprotodontia -	Simosthenurus cf. baileyi⁵ Simosthenurus cf. baileyi⁵ Prideaux and Wells 1998 short-faced kangaroo

¹Beck et al. 2008; ²Mackness 1995; ³Molnar 1979; ⁴Muirhead et al. 1997; ⁵Prideaux 2004; ⁶Scanlon and Mackness 2002; ⁷Thomson and Mackness 1999; ⁸Willis and Molnar 1997