RE: paleonet New volume on Early Cretaceous terrestrial flora and invertebrate fauna of Victoria

["Thomas R. Lipka" <trlipka@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sounds very interesting and right up may alley! But how much?

Thanks!

Tom

Thomas R. Lipka
Baltimore, Md. USA

http://www.glue.umd.edu/~lfsxdth/lipka/theropod.html

http://www.glue.umd.edu/~lfsxdth/neoceratopsian/index.html

Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will
they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material
abundance without character is the path of destruction.---Thomas Jefferson

> -----Original Message-----
> From: paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk [mailto:paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk]On
> Behalf Of Laurie John
> Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 7:28 PM
> To: PaleoNet (E-mail)
> Subject: paleonet New volume on Early Cretaceous terrestrial flora and
> invertebrate fauna of Victoria
>
>
> New publication on Early Cretaceous terrestrial flora and
> invertebrate fauna of Victoria just published
>
> McLOUGHLIN, S., TOSOLINI, A.-M., NAGALINGUM, N. & DRINNAN, A.,
> 2002. Early Cretaceous (Neocomian) flora and fauna of the lower
> Strzelecki Group, Gippsland Basin, Victoria. Memoir of the
> Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 26, 1-144.
>
> Abstract
> Fossil assemblages are described from the Tyers River Subgroup
> (late Berriasian to Hauterivian), Gippsland Basin, Victoria. The
> assemblages include plant macrofossils referable to 33
> form-species of which five are new (Isoetites abundans Tosolini &
> McLoughlin, Coniopteris victoriensis Nagalingum & McLoughlin,
> Otozamites douglasii Drinnan, Brachyphyllum tyersensis Tosolini &
> Nagalingum, Otwayia hermata Tosolini & McLoughlin) and three are
> new combinations (Medwellia lacerata [Douglas] Nagalingum &
> McLoughlin, Rintoulia variabilis [Douglas] McLoughlin &
> Nagalingum, Pachydermophyllum austropapillosum [Douglas 1969]
> McLoughlin & Nagalingum). Macrofossil assemblages include
> representatives of the Hepaticales, Isoetales, Equisetales,
> Filicopsida, seed-ferns, Coniferales and unionid bivalves.
> Co-preserved mesofossil suites include dispersed cuticle
> fragments, seed coats, seed megaspore membranes, microspore
> clusters, fern leptosporangia, charcoalified wood, resin blebs,
> epiphyllous fungal shields, clitellate annelid cocoons, insect
> exoskeleton fragments and coprolites. Sixteen lycophytic
> megaspore taxa were identified from the succession including six
> new species (Erlansonisporites confertus Tosolini, Favososporites
> brevis Tosolini, Hughesisporites australis Tosolini,
> Paxillitriletes rintoulensis Tosolini, Striatriletes imperfectus
> Tosolini, Trikonia locmaniensis Tosolini). These represent the
> first Neocomian megaspores formally described from Australia and
> their diversity and abundance indicates that lycophytes
> represented a significant component of the Early Cretaceous
> vegetation. The Tyers River Subgroup shares some taxa with the
> well studied Aptian Koonwarra flora of the Gippsland Basin but
> lacks several key elements (Ginkgoales, angiosperms and
> large-leafed araucarian conifers) and is more closely comparable
> to Jurassic floras of eastern Australia in its strong
> representation of bennettitalean, pentoxylalean and other
> seed-fern remains. The Tyers River Subgroup flora differs from
> coeval northwestern Australian floras in containing
> smaller-leafed bennettites, Komlopteris and Pachydermophyllum
> species and by the lack of dipteridacean and
> gleicheniacean/lophosoriacean fern macrofossils. This
> intra-Australian provincialism is interpreted to be largely a
> function of palaeolatitude-induced climatic differences. Six
> major biofacies (one divisible into four sub-facies) are
> recognized in the Tyers River Subgroup and are attributable to
> three broad environmental settings within fluvial depositional
> tracts. Channel deposits host principally detrital plant remains
> derived from a broad range of riparian, upland and reworked
> floodbasin communities. Silty floodbasin deposits typically host
> a mixture of pteridosperm-, fern- and lycophyte-dominated
> assemblages derived from a mosaic of herb-, shrub- and small
> tree-dominated communities developed mainly in perennially or
> seasonally wet environments. Better drained, intervening levee,
> crevasse splay and neighbouring upland environments are
> interpreted to have hosted a conifer-dominated flora contributing
> to conifer-, root/rhizome-, megaspore- and clitellate-rich fossil
> associations. The floristic diversity, foliar morphology of
> selected species, strong representation of deciduous taxa and
> sedimentological data collectively suggest that seasonally cold
> conditions prevailed during the Neocomian-Aptian compared to the
> Albian in southeastern Australia.
>
> This volume is available from:
>
> The Business Manager
> Geological Society of Australia
> 706 Thakral House
> 301 George Street
> Sydney NSW 2000
> AUSTRALIA
>
> Tel: (+ 61 2) 9290 2195
> Fax: (+ 61 2) 9290 2198
> E-mail: misha@gsa.org.au
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Dr John R. Laurie
>
> Eastern and Onshore Petroleum
>
> GEOSCIENCE AUSTRALIA
> GPO Box 378
> Canberra ACT 2601
> Australia
>
> Tel: (02) 6249 9412; Fax: (02) 6249 9980
> E-mail: John.Laurie@ga.gov.au
>
> Street Address:
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