Further Australian Cambrian sphinctozoans

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Abstract
Two new genera and species of Middle Cambrian sphinctozoans, Jawonya gurumal and Wagima galbanyin, are described from the Tindall Limestone of the Daly Basin, Northern Territory, within continental platform successions of the northern Australian craton. They are ambisiphonate sebargasiids, coeval with the island-arc shelf fauna from the Ordian Stage of western New South Wales. Additionally, a new Early Cambrian (Atdabanian equivalent) species, ?Jawonya tiro, displaying some sphinctozoan and some archaeocyathan features, is documented from the Ajax Limestone of the Arrowie Basin, South Australia. It is tentatively regarded as the oldest known sphinctozoan, but raises the possibility of the derivation of sphinctozoans from archaeocyaths. A brief review charts the Early–Middle Palaeozoic history of the sphinctozoans. The use of filling tissue type as a family-level criterion in sphinctozoan classification needs some reappraisal, as some types are of secondary origin.

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