Mesozoic Bivalvia from Clerke and Mermaid Canyons, northwest Australian continental slope

Four sets of rock samples from two sites off the northwest Australian shelf in 3625-4480 m of water contain macrofaunas, mainly bivalves, of warm shallow-water origin. Mermaid Canyon (16o 19S, 118o 23E) provided many samples of oolitic calcarenite containing Pseudopecten (Pseudopecten) dugong n.sp., indicating an Early Jurassic age and Tethyan relationship. Three hand-specimens from the ridge forming the western edge of Clerke Canyon (16o 29S , 118o 30E) yielded a Norian coral-?Lima-oyster assemblage and the Norian-Rhaetian bivalve Palaeocurdita aff. globiformis (Boetlger). The latter shows relationship with south-east Asian (Indonesia-Vietnam- south China) forms.