Point Charles, Cox Peninsula (Cretaceous of Australia)

Where: Northern Territory, Australia (12.4° S, 130.6° E: paleocoordinates 41.7° S, 116.0° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Wangarlu Mudstone Formation (Bathurst Island Group), Late/Upper Albian (105.3 - 99.6 Ma)

• basal interval of the Wangarlu Mudstone; 'considered as an isochronous assemblage, the Wangarlu Mudstone fauna would be best referred to the auritus Subzone. However, its contents were probably derived from a range of stratigraphic horizons which may well have spanned the varicosum and auritus Subzones and perhaps even extended into the lower part of the dispar Zone.'

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: offshore; lithified ironstone

• 'the Point Charles ironstone ammonites, and other beach pebble occurences from the Cox Peninsula, clearly represent pyritic ammonites from degraded Cretaceous strata stabilised as iron oxide in the weathering process and concentrated in the surficial nodular and pisolitic ferricrete zone. From here the ironstone clasts have been reworked by coastal erosion to form beach pebbles...'

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Reposited in the UQ

• Museum repositories: Australian Museum (AM), Museum of Viktoria (MV), University of Queensalnd (UQ) and Western Australian Museum (WAM)

Primary reference: R. A. Henderson. 1990. Late Albian ammonites from the Northern Territory, Australia. Alcheringa 14:109-148 [M. Aberhan/S. Nurnberg]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 70245: authorized by Martin Aberhan, entered by Sabine Nürnberg on 20.03.2007

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Focus on ammonites.
Cephalopoda
 Ammonoidea -
Ammonoidea indet. Zittel 1884 ammonite
heteromorph, genus novum?
 Ammonitida - Desmoceratidae
 Ammonitida - Beudanticeratidae
Beudanticeras sp. Hitzell 1902 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Brancoceratidae
Hysteroceras sp. Hyatt 1900 ammonite
Hysteroceras antipodeum Etheridge 1902 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Oppeliidae
Naramoceras sp. McNamara 1985 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Scaphitidae
"Scaphites hugardianus" = Scaphites (Scaphites) hugardianus d'Orbigny 1842 ammonite
Scaphites eruciformis Etheridge 1902 ammonite
Worthoceras cf. worthense Adkins 1920 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Ptychoceratidae
Ptychoceras adpressum Sowerby 1814 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Labeceratidae
Labeceras (Appurdiceras) decorus n. sp. Henderson 1990 ammonite
Labeceras (Labeceras) acuticostatum Förster 1975 ammonite
Labeceras (Labeceras) tumidum n. sp. Henderson 1990 ammonite
Myloceras joffrei Boule et al. 1907 ammonite
"Myloceras cornucopia" = Myloceras cornucopium Spath 1925 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Hamitidae
Lytohamites similis Casey 1961 ammonite
Hamites venetzianus Pictet 1847 ammonite
abundance data based on '140 specimens from Point Charles and Shoal Bay'
"Hamites virgulatus" = Stomohamites virgulatus Brongniart 1822 ammonite
abundance data based on '105 specimens from Point Charles and Shoal Bay'
 Ammonitida - Turrilitidae
? Pseudhelicoceras sp. Spath 1922 ammonite
Pseudhelicoceras gracile n. sp. Henderson 1990 ammonite
"Idiohamites dorsetensis" = Mariella dorsetensis Spath 1926 ammonite
I. dorsetensis laticostatuts subsp. nov.
Mariella (Mariella) bergeri Brongniart 1822 ammonite
Notostreptites exilis n. gen. n. sp. Henderson 1990 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Baculitidae
"Lechites gaudini" = Lechites (Lechites) gaudini
"Lechites gaudini" = Lechites (Lechites) gaudini Pictet and Campiche 1861 ammonite
abundance data based on '33 specimens from Point Charles and Shoal Bay'
 Ammonitida - Anisoceratidae
Idiohamites tuberculatus Sowerby 1818 ammonite
Idiohamites subspiniger Spath 1939 ammonite
Anisoceras sp. Pictet 1854 ammonite