Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

The oldest known skeletal remains of tetrapods in Australia have been found in this deposit. A single amphibian jaw, believed to be that of Metaxygnathus denticulus, was found in association of a rich fish fauna, most of which were placoderms, such as Bothriolepis, Remingolepis, both antiarchs, and a phyllolepid, Phyllolepis. There was also the remains of Soederberghia, a dipnoan. The Metaxygnathus jaw is believed to be from the Late Frasnian-Middle Famennian,  making it older than the Ichthyostega from Greenland, which is from the Late Famennian. The Metaxygnathus jaw is the oldest known fossil that can be assigned to this group with certainty.

Sources & Further reading

1. Patricia Vickers-Rich, Thomas Hewitt Rich, Wildlife of Gondwana, Reed Australia, 1993