Megaspore and microfossil assemblages reveal diverse herbaceous lycophytes in the Australian Early Jurassic flora

Abstract

Here, we describe and illustrate by transmitted light and scanning electron microscopy the first Australian Jurassic megaspore assemblages. The megaspores and other mesofossils were isolated from terrestrial deposits of the Marburg Subgroup (late Pliensbachian) at Inverleigh Quarry, Clarence-Moreton Basin, eastern Australia. Nine megaspore taxa are identified including one new species: Paxillitriletes rainei. Miospore assemblages recovered from the same samples at Inverleigh reveal a slightly higher diversity of lycophyte microspores. The collective megaspore suite from Inverleigh shares several genera with mid-Mesozoic assemblages from widely distributed parts of the world, but most of the Inverleigh species have subtle morphological differences from congeneric forms elsewhere. The megaspores accumulated in fluvial floodplain facies and are associated with mostly dissociated isoetalean leaf debris. Other mesofossils in the sampled interval include annelid egg cases, dispersed seeds and charcoal. Invertebrate burrows and possible vertebrate tracks also occur in this succession. Lycophyte macrofossils are otherwise known from only two other Australian Jurassic deposits. The richness of the megaspore and microspore suites attest to a significant diversity of lycophytes in the Australian Jurassic floras not hitherto appreciated from described macrofloras.

Keywords:

• lycophyte megaspores
• Isoetales
• mesofossils
• microspores
• Pliensbachian
• Clarence-Moreton Basin
• Gondwana

Acknowledgements

Fieldwork in Australia was supported by the Moberg Scholarship to IMJ. Andrew Schnitzerling of Warwick Brick Works, Warwick, Queensland, Australia, is thanked for permitting access to the quarry site. SM was supported by grants from the Australian Research Council and Swedish Research Council (VR). VV acknowledges support from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences through the Knut and Alice Wallenbergs Foundation, the Swedish Research Council under grant LUCCI (Lund University Carbon Cycle Centre). The authors thank Rick Lupia and David Batten for their constructive reviews that helped improve the manuscript.