Neoceratodontidae Miles, 1977

Louys, Julien & Price, Gilbert J., 2015, The Chinchilla Local Fauna: An exceptionally rich and well-preserved Pliocene vertebrate assemblage from fluviatile deposits of south-eastern Queensland, Australia, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 60 (3), pp. 551-572 : 554

Family Neoceratodontidae Miles, 1977 Genus Neoceratodus de Castelnau, 1876

Type species: Neoceratodus forsteri ( Krefft, 1870) , Burnett River, Queensland, Recent .

Neoceratodus forsteri ( Krefft, 1870)

Fig. 3B .

Material.— QM F10539 (three toothplates) from Chinchilla, Australia, Pliocene; QM F56224 (toothplate) from Chinchilla Rifle Range, Australia, Pliocene.

Remarks.—Two fossil lungfish specimens ( FV O355 and FV O616) from Chinchilla were assigned to Neoceratodus forsteri by Kemp (1997a). Unfortunately, both specimens are from the private collection of Terry Poole, and thus not easily accessible. Three toothplates, registered together as QM F10539, (originally described as M. palmeri ) are referable to N. forsteri .

Stratigraphic and geographic range.—Cretaceous to Recent; eastern mainland Australia.

Class Reptilia Laurenti, 1768

Order Testudines Linneaus, 1758

Family Trionychidae Fitzinger, 1826

Trionychidae gen. et sp. indet.

Fig. 4D .

Material.—QM F9037 (carapace fragment) from Fairymeadow near Chinchilla, Australia, probably Pliocene.

Remarks.— De Vis (1894b) described seven carapace fragments of a single individual (QM F1101) as Trionyx australiensis from the Darling Downs, possibly from the Chinchilla Sand. However, in the absence of locality data, the preservation led Alan Bartholomai ( Gaffney and Bartholomai 1979) to suggest that they may have instead come from Tara Creek, Queensland. Gaffney and Bartholomai (1979) concluded that T. australiensis was only known from small carapace fragments and referred the taxon to Trionychidae indeterminate. They later described a specimen referred to Trionychidae sp. indet. from the “Southwest of Chinchilla”, and hence presumably from the Chinchilla Sand. That specimen was also listed in Gaffney’s (1981) review of Australian turtles. Molnar (1982a) in his review of the reptile fossil material of Queensland lists only Emydura sp. as definitively from the Chinchilla Sand, although he also refers the Trionychidae sp. indet. as coming from Fairymeadow near Chinchilla.

Family Chelidae Gray, 1831

Genus Emydura Bonaparte, 1836

Type species: Emydura macquarrii (Gray, 1830) , Maquarie River, New South Wales, Recent .

Figures

Fig.3. Lungfish toothplates from unspecified locality near Chinchilla,Australia, Pliocene. A. Metaceratodus palmeri (Krefft, 1874), QM F10537. B. Neoceratodus forsteri (Krefft, 1870), QM F56224. Scale bars 10 mm.

Fig. 4. Reptiles from Chinchilla Sand, Australia, Pliocene. A.?Reptilia, QM F56197, Chinchilla Rifle Range, unidentified fragments (A 1 –A 3), showing the WPC registration numbers of Agamidae sp. indet. cited by Hutchinson and Mackness (2002). B. Varanus sp. QM F56189, “Wilkinson’s Quarry” Chinchilla Rifle Range, dorsal vertebra. C. Quinkana sp., QM F10204, Chinchilla Rifle Range, isolated tooth. D. Trionychidae sp. indet. QM F9037, Fairymeadow, carapace fragment. E. Emydura sp., QM F7035, Middle Gully, Chinchilla Rifle Range, anterior half of carapace. F. Pallimnarchus pollens de Vis, 1886, QM F11612, “Sand Scree locality, 4’6” from top of bank of Condamine River”, symphyseal portion of dentary. G. Varanus komodoensis Ouwens, 1912, QM F874, unspecified locality near Chinchilla, right maxilla. Scale bars 20 mm.