Rhipidistians (Sarcopterygii) from the Hunter Siltstone (Late Famennian) near Grenfell, NSW, Australia

Rhipidistian sarcopterygian fishes (Dipnomorpha + Tetrapodomorpha) are well represented in the upper levels of the Hunter Siltstone (latest Famennian) near Grenfell. New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Taxa comprise two porolepiforms (known primarily from scales, including the widely distributed Holoptychius ), the basal rhipidistian taxon Grenfellia meemannae n. gen. and n. sp. and two tetrapodomorphs ( Eusthenodon gavini n. sp. and Yambira thomsoni n. gen. and n. sp., both known from skull bones and scales). Biogeographic relationships of the Hunter Siltstone fauna are based on the presence of the placoderm group Sinolepidoidei, shared with Late Devonian faunas from the North and South China terranes. Rhipidistian scales have been described from the latter in association with Late Devonian sinolepids ( Sinolepis ), but these do not display close taxonomic affinity to scales described from Grenfell. Other Upper Devonian NSW localities show strong faunal similarity to Euramerican localities; Holoptychius occurs in certain of these and at Grenfell, but has not been recorded from Sinolepis ‐bearing units on the North and South China terranes. These considerations further contradict suggestions that Asian terranes acted as a dispersal route between Gondwana and Euramerica in the Late Devonian.