PERMIAN ASTEROIDS (ECHINODERMATA) FROM AUSTRALIA

The taxonomy of asteroids from the Permian of Australia is revised on the basis of new and rediscovered historical material. A total of eight species belonging to four genera are described from the Artinskian to Roadian stages, of which one is new (Ambigaster kapit-anyi sp. nov.), and a new family, the Ambigasteridae, is described. The fauna represents the most abundant and diverse asteroid fauna known from the Permian Period, with a total of only four specimens belonging to three taxa known from other regions of the world. The significance of this fauna, which immediately predates a major turnover in asteroids around the Permo–Triassic boundary, approximately coincident with the appearance of the Triassic to present day Neoasteroidea, is discussed. Although the affinities of the Permian asteroid faunas are closest to Carboniferous forms, a number of species display derived characters which may herald major morphological changes subsequently seen in Triassic taxa.