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Early Carboniferous tetrapods in Australia

Nature volume 381, pages 777–780 (1996)Cite this article

Abstract

THE earliest tetrapod fauna yet discovered in the Southern Hemisphere comes from the Drummond basin of central Queensland, Australia. The fauna is of Early Carboniferous age (mid-Viséan, about 333 Myr ago1) and comprises at least three types of tetrapods in association with abundant freshwater fishes. Two of the tetrapods (a colosteid and, less certainly, a temnospondyl) are distantly related to living amphibians, whereas the third (an anthracosaur) is an early relative of the amniotes. All three tetrapods rank among the oldest known representatives of their clades, and two of them (colosteid and anthracosaur) represent groups previously confined to Europe and North America. By virtue of its geographic remoteness, early age, and taxonomic diversity, the Drummond basin fauna has important implications for current understanding of early tetrapod history2,3. Most significantly, it indicates that several major groups of tetrapods were distributed worldwide through equatorial regions during the Early Carboniferous.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Queensland, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    Tony Thulborn & Tim Hamley

  2. School of Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3083, Australia

    Anne Warren

  3. Queensland Museum, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane, Queensland, 4101, Australia

    Susan Turner

Authors
  1. Tony Thulborn
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  2. Anne Warren
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  3. Susan Turner
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  4. Tim Hamley
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Thulborn, T., Warren, A., Turner, S. et al. Early Carboniferous tetrapods in Australia. Nature 381, 777–780 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/381777a0

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