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
Reptilia
 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)
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)
 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
 Diprotodontia -
Simosthenurus cf. baileyi5
Simosthenurus cf. baileyi5 Prideaux and Wells 1998 short-faced kangaroo
 Peramelemorphia - Peramelidae
Perameles allinghamensis4
Perameles allinghamensis4 Archer and Wade 1976 long-nosed bandicoot
 Tribosphenida - Numbigilgidae
Numbigilga ernielundeliusi n. gen. n. sp.1
Numbigilga ernielundeliusi n. gen. n. sp.1 Beck et al. 2008 marsupial
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