Fossils & Geological Features
Sighting 4670059

Brachiopoda (phylum) fossil

9 A brachiopod fossil at Watson, ACT

Brachiopoda (phylum) fossil at Watson, ACT - suppressed
Brachiopoda (phylum) fossil at Watson, ACT - suppressed
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Identification history

Brachiopoda (phylum) fossil 22 May 2025 MichaelBedingfield
Bivalvia (class) fossil 21 May 2025 MichaelBedingfield
Unverified 21 May 2025 waltraud

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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

waltraud wrote:
   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).
MichaelBedingfield wrote:
   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.
waltraud wrote:
   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
MichaelBedingfield wrote:
   22 May 2025
Thanks Waltraud

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