Sighting 4670059
Brachiopoda (phylum) fossil
10 A brachiopod fossil at Watson, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Brachiopoda (phylum) fossil | MichaelBedingfield | 22 May 2025 | |
| Bivalvia (class) fossil | MichaelBedingfield | 21 May 2025 | |
| Unverified | waltraud | 21 May 2025 |
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User's notes
Between 450 and 405 million years old marine invertebrate that lived in the shallow warm ocean in the sediments among coral outcrops that once covered the area; about 50 Million years later, volcanoes erupted, the remnants of which are now known as Mt Majura and Mt Ainslie.
Location suppressed.
4 comments
21 May 2025
hi MichaelBedingfield how did you arrive at Bivalvia ie mollusks with lateral symmetry rather than Brachiopodes with a dorsoventral symmetry? I must admit I don't know either since both mollusks groups occur very early from Kambrium and both occur in Canberra's Silurian mudstone as far as I know (for instance Woolshed creek fossil bed, Majura valley).
21 May 2025
Hi Waltraud. It looked like a bivalve from the photo, but happy to change to Brachiopodes if you think that's what it is.
21 May 2025
https://canberra.naturemapr.org/users/8083, to be honest I don't know. Both groups are bilateral symmetric and have species with similar looking shells; however, the mussels (bivalvia) have a right and left and the Brachiopodia have a upper and lower shell; I'm afraid without additional structural info it is hard to say. Given the richness of Brachiopodia in Canberra's fossil record in similar Silurian formation e.g. the mudstone at woolshed creek, I would opt for Brachiopodia; see https://artsandculture.google.com/story/a-c-t-fossil-emblem-geoscience-australia/cAWBTqZZczzjKA?hl=en
Location information
- Maps Mount Majura
- Places Watson, ACT
Sighting information
- At least 1 Abundance
- waltraud Recorded by
Collections
- waltraud NatureMapr Canberra & Southern Tablelands Fossils & Geological Features Featured Brachiopoda (phylum) fossil
Species information
- Brachiopoda (phylum) fossil Scientific name
- A brachiopod fossil Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Cosmopolitan
- Non-invasive or negligible
- 618.36m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Record quality
Quality score
4 / 7
- Images or audio
- Verified by an expert moderator
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- More than one media file
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- Additional attributes