Otoliths of freshwater bony fish family Percichthyidae (Teleostei: Percomorpha) from the Namba Formation (late Oligocene–Early Miocene) of South Australia

The first Cenozoic freshwater fish otoliths from Australia are described from the late Oligocene–Early Miocene Namba Formation from a borehole in northern South Australia. The borehole G8 was drilled in 1973 near Lake Pundalpa to a total depth of 450 ft and encountered, between 231 and 236 ft, a sandy interval of the lower Namba Formation containing well-preserved aragonitic fossils. Only eight otoliths were recovered, and they represent three different species, all of the Percichthyidae. They pertain to the extant genera Macquaria, Nannoperca? and Percalates, indicating the continued persistence of these freshwater fishes in Australia since that time. The most common species, and the only one that can be described to species level, is Macquaria pundalpa n. sp.Zoobank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:99A9F363-1C58-4C71-B2ED-12F752F335B0