Notocarpos garrattigen. et sp. nov., a new Silurian mitrate carpoid from Victoria

Abstract

Notocarpos garratti gen. et sp. nov. is described from the middle Ludlovian Humevale Formation of the Clonbinane district, Victoria. It is compared with similar anomalocystitid carpoids and is found to resemble most closely Allanicytidium flemingi Caster & Gill 1968 from the Early Devonian Reefton Beds of New Zealand. N. garratti provides evidence that anomalocystitids rested with the flattened thecal surface against the sea floor (i.e., an orientation opposite to that proposed by Jefferies, 1968). It is further suggested that the stele was adapted to provide a rearward mode of locomotion.