4 
Records of the Australian Museum (2009) Vol. 61 
Table 1 . Distribution of conodont species recovered from three samples in the Emanuel Formation of the 
Canning Basin, Western Australia. 
species 
WCB705/133 
WCB705/243 
161-166m 
Total 
Acodus deltatus? 
14 
185 
10 
209 
Acodus? transitans 
4 
4 
Bergstroemognathus extensus 
32 
71 
103 
Cornuodus sp. 
7 
12 
4 
23 
Drepanodus arcuatus 
65 
19 
11 
95 
Drepanoistodus sp. cf. D. nowlani 
30 
13 
9 
52 
gen. et sp. indet. A 
10 
10 
gen. et sp. indet. B 
1 
1 
Fahraeusodus adentatus 
1 
6 
7 
Lissoepikodus nudus 
28 
19 
2 
49 
Nasusgnathus dolonus 
19 
6 
5 
30 
Paracordylodus gracilis 
35 
35 
Paltodus sp. 
1 
1 
Paroistodus parallelus 
180 
256 
21 
457 
Paroistodus proteus 
16 
12 
2 
30 
Prioniodus adami 
1 
3 
4 
Protopanderodus gradatus 
2 
124 
126 
Protoprioniodus simplicissimus 
8 
17 
3 
28 
Scolopodus houlianzhaiensis 
3 
5 
11 
19 
Semiacontiodus sp. cf. S. cornuformis 
18 
4 
4 
26 
Serratognathus bilobatus 
5 
1 
1 
7 
Stiptognathus borealis 
4 
103 
107 
Triangulodus bifidus 
1 
2 
3 
Tropodus australis 
77 
83 
30 
190 
total 
527 
970 
119 
1616 
Age and correlation of the conodont fauna 
McTavish (1973) described 20 multi-element conodont 
species and subspecies from the Emanuel Formation and 
lower part of the Gap Greek Formation; 19 of these were 
referred to prioniodontid genera, namely Acodus, Baltoniodus, 
Prioniodus and Protoprioniodus, and one to Periodontidae. 
On the basis of correlation with Balto-Scandian and North 
America Mid-continent successions McTavish (1973) de¬ 
termined a Fatorpian age (latest Tremadocian to Floian in 
current terminology) for the Emanuel Formation and lower 
Gap Creek Formation. In particular, occurrence of Acodus 
deltatusl, Paroistodus proteus and P. parallelus in the Emanuel 
Formation allowed its correlation with the Paroistodus proteus 
Biozone (Hunneberg) of the Balto-Scandian succession, and 
the appearance of Oepikodus communis in the lower Gap 
Creek Formation supported correlation with the Ninemile 
Formation of central Nevada (McTavish, 1973, pp. 31, 32), 
namely the O. communis Biozone of the North America Mid¬ 
continent succession. 
In our study 24 conodont species are documented from 
three samples in the middle and upper members of the 
Emanuel Formation (Table 1). Paroistodus parallelus, 
Acodus deltatusl, Tropodus australis, Protopanderodus 
gradatus, Stiptognathus borealis, Bergstroemognathus 
extensus, and Drepanodus arcuatus dominate the fauna, 
whereas Serratognathus bilobatus is relatively rare. As 
shown in Table 2, among the 24 species recorded in this 
study, 11 species were also recorded in the Honghuayuan 
Formation in the Yangtze Platform of South China (An, 1987, 
Ding et al. in Wang, 1993; Zhen et al., in press a), seven in 
the Fiangjiashan Formation of the North China Platform (An 
et al., 1983), only three in the Qianzhongliangzi Formation 
of the Ordos Basin of North China Plate (An & Zheng, 
1990), and four in the upper subgroup of the Qiulitag Group 
of the Tarim Basin (Zhao et al., 2000). Recently a fauna 
closely comparable with that documented herein (with 12 
species in common including S. bilobatus ) was found in the 
Mooroongga Formation in the offshore Arafura Basin, north 
Australia (Nicoll unpublished material), indicating wide dis¬ 
tribution of this species in western and northern Australia. 
Jumudontus brevis Nicoll, 1992 ranges from the middle 
member to lower part of the upper member of the Emanuel 
Formation. It is a pandemic species, also found in Early 
Ordovician rocks in Utah and Texas (Ethington & Clark, 
1982), Newfoundland (Stouge & Bagnoli, 1988), western 
Canada (Norford et al., 2002), Baltoscandia (Bergstrom, 
1988) and Greenland (Smith, 1991). In the Fillmore 
Formation of Utah, J. brevis first appears three m above 
the FAD of O. communis and extends to 237.7 m above the 
base of the formation at section H, suggesting a correlation 
with the lower O. communis Biozone (Ethington & Clark, 
1982). In Newfoundland, it occurs in the upper part of Bed 
9 (upper P. elegans Biozone) and lower part of Bed 11 ( O. 
evae Biozone) of the Cow Head Group (Stouge & Bagnoli, 
1988), an interval slightly higher than its occurrence (= 
upper P. proteus Biozone to lower P. elegans Biozone) in 
the Emanuel Formation. 
Stiptognathus borealis (Repetski, 1982) is present from 
the upper part of the middle member to the basal part of the 
upper member of the Emanuel Formation, a range slightly 
shorter than that of J. brevis (Ethington etal., 2000; Nicoll & 
Ethington, 2004). It was also recorded from the Great Basin 
(Ethington & Clark, 1982; Ethington et al., 2000), western 
