The Toolebuc Formation is a geological formation that extends from Queensland across South Australia and the Northern Territory in Australia, whose strata date back to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaurs,[1] pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, protostegid turtles, sharks, chimaeroids and bony fish remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
Deposition occurred in a cool to temperate inland sea setting and the present lithology is dominantly made up of limey shales with abundant Inoceramus bivalve shells. Ichthyosaurs and protostegid turtles were the most common marine reptiles at this time in the Eromanga Sea, in contrast to older Aptian deposits such as the Bulldog Shale of South Australia, which show that plesiosaurs were previously more abundant and also more diverse. The Toolebuc Formation is one of the richest known sources of Mesozoic vertebrate fossils in Australia, with notable collecting areas situated around the towns of Richmond, Julia Creek, Hughenden and Boulia.
Possible indeterminate ankylosaurid remains are present in Queensland, Australia.[1] Indeterminate ornithopod remains have also been found in Queensland, Australia.[1]
"QM F52641 (holotype); partial snout (lacking tip of rostrum) and mandible including dentition and associated cranial/postcranial fragments; SAM P40514 (referred specimen), partial skull with rostrum and incomplete pectoral fin"[9]
Known from rostral teeth that are tentatively referred to P. tumidens.[20] Adnet and Cappetta (2001) considered that these remains are teeth and jaw fragments of teleostean instead.[21]
^Pentland, A.H., Poropat, S.F., Duncan, R.J. et al. Haliskia peterseni, a new anhanguerian pterosaur from the late Early Cretaceous of Australia. Sci Rep 14, 11789 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60889-8
^Richards TM, Stumkat PE, Salisbury SW (2021). "A new species of crested pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Albian) of Richmond, North West Queensland, Australia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (3): e1946068. Bibcode:2021JVPal..41E6068R. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.1946068.
^ abKear, Benjamin P. (2011). Dinosaurs in Australia: Mesozoic life from the Southern Continent. Robert J. Hamilton-Bruce, CSIRO Publishing. Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO Pub. p. 88. ISBN978-0-643-10169-2. OCLC692219338.
^ abLionel Cavin; Rodney Berrell (May 2019). "Revision of Dugaldia emmilta (Teleostei, Ichthyodectiformes) from the Toolebuc Formation, Albian of Australia, with comments on the jaw mechanics". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 39 (1): e1576049. Bibcode:2019JVPal..39E6049C. doi:10.1080/02724634.2019.1576049. S2CID190880286.
^Bartholomai, A. (2010). "Revision of Flindersichthys denmeadi Longman 1932, a marine teleost from the Lower Cretaceous of the Great Artesian Basin, Queensland". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. S2CID189970876.
^Vickers-Rich, Patricia; Vickers-Rich, Patricia; University, Monash (1991). Vertebrate palaeontology of Australasia. Lilydale, Vic: Pioneer Design Studio in cooperation with the Monash University Publications Committee, Melbourne. ISBN978-0-909674-36-6.
^Benjamin P Kear; Robert J Hamilton-Bruce (2011). Dinosaurs in Australia: Mesozoic Life from the Southern Continent. Collingwood Australia: CSIRO PUBLISHING. p. 87. ISBN978-0643100459.
^Bartholomai, A. (2004). "The large aspidorhynchid fish, Richmondichthys sweeti (Etheridge Jnr and Smith Woodward, 1891) from Albian Marine deposits of Queensland, Australia". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. S2CID195531265.
^ abKear, Benjamin P. (2011). Dinosaurs in Australia: Mesozoic life from the Southern Continent. Robert J. Hamilton-Bruce, CSIRO Publishing. Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO Pub. p. 85. ISBN978-0-643-10169-2. OCLC692219338.