A study of conodont genera Belodella and Neopanderodus with emphasis on faunas from eastern Australia

Recent studies of conodont faunas from limestones of eastern Australia, extending from the Broken River Province, north Queensland, southwards through the Tamworth Belt and the Wellington areas of New South Wales, to the Buchan-Bindi area and the Boola-Tyers-Coopers Creek area of east-central Victoria, have reported the shallow-water occurrence of the coniform conodont genera Belodella and Neopanderodus. The faunas dated principally by MAWSON (1987a, 1987b) and MAWSON and TALENT (1989, 1994a, 1994b) indicate that the genus Belodella ranges in age from Late Silurian (siluricus Zone) to the Middle Devonian (varcus Zone) and that Neopanderodus ranges from the Early Devonian (delta Zone) to the Middle Devonian (hermanni Zone), with the possible exception of two specimens, one from Victoria, Australia (SIMPSON 1995) and the other from Jilin Province, China (WANG and LI 1986), both of which are recorded in the Late Silurian. Multi-element taxonomy has been applied to the genus Neopanderodus with the recognition of Sa, Sb, Sc, M, and T elements. Neopanderodus aequabilis occurs between the base of the inversus Zone and the top of the hermanni Zone. Neopanderodus leptostriatus n. sp. is described from horizons dated as pesavis Zone-sulcatus Zone.