This paper provides the first comprehensive account of fossil microplankton
assemblages from the southern hemisphere. Dinoflagellates,
hystrichosphaerids, and microorganisms of uncertain affinity, all of which
have unmineralized membranes, have been classified. Forty samples from
bores and outcrops have been examined, and 25 genera, of which four are new,
and 75 species, of which 46 are new, have been recorded from Cretaceous and
Tertiary deposits. The data obtained have provided suggestive indications
concerning the age of certain portions of two bores. A number of interesting
facts has arisen from comparisons with the fossil microplanktons from
European sediments.
Pollen types referable to the families Casuarinaceae, Haloragaceae,Myrtaceae, Olacaceae, Proteaceae, Santaiaceae, and Sapindaceae have been described from Cainozoic deposits in the Australian region; their relationship to living species has been discussed wherever possible.
The characters and distribution of three sporomorphs of uncertain affinity have been considered. Details concerning the pollen grains of some of the living species of Anacolosa, Cathedra, Casuarina, the tribe Cupanieae (Sapindaceae), Haloragis, Myriophyllurn, and Santalurn have been recorded.
New Australian Late Mesozoic species of Gymnodinium and Deflandrea (Dinoflagellata)
and Odontochitina and Palaeotetradinium (Incertae Sedis) have been described.
A new species of Wetzeliella from a South Australian Eocene deposit has thrown light
on the taxonomic position of the genus. Hystrichokolporna cinctum Klumpp (Hystrichosphaeridae)
has been recorded from Victorian Tertiary deposits.
The microspore content of samples from a bore at Comaum, S.A., has been
determined. Evidence is brought forward which suggests that the passage
from Tertiary to Mesozoic strata occurred between 620-ft and 650-ft levels.
Several new sporomorphs have been described; their affinities with living and
fossil types have been considered.
Proof of the occurrence of the section Dacrycarpus of the genus Podocarpus
in Australia and Tasmania is presented.Foliage shoots with structure preserved from Yallourn, Victoria, have been designated hypotypes of Podocarpus praecupressinus Ett.
Pollen grains of the Dacrycarpus type have been identified in a number of
widely separated Tertiary deposits. The sporotype Dacycarpites has been instituted
for them and one sporomorph Dacrycarpites australienis described.
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