Early Cretaceous macrofloras 
25 
mm apart, arranged in flat (70°-75°) right-handed 
and steep (50°) left-handed spirals (measured with 
respect to axial orientation). Axes show broad 
transverse ridges or undulations corresponding to 
growth increments. Attached roots unavailable. 
Leaves unavailable on curated specimens. 
Comments 
Glaessner and Rao (1955) suggested a possible 
relationship between leafless blathorstianella corms 
and foliage assigned to Isoetites elegans. Leaves 4 
mm wide, 60 mm long and similar to I. elegans x but 
lacking sporangia, were observed attached to N. 
babbagensis axes in outcrops of the Broome 
Sandstone at Gantheaume Point near Broome 
during this study. The specimens are preserved in 
rock slabs too large to be collected or extracted 
without risking damage to the fossils. It seems 
likely that /. elegans leaves and N. babbagensis 
belonged to the same plant although formal 
synonymy should wait until fertile material is 
found attached to the latter. The occurrence of N. 
babbagensis in sandy deltaic sediments of the 
Broome Sandstone suggests that this plant 
preferred coastal habitats similar to those occupied 
by related herbaceous to arborescent Triassic 
pleuromeian lycophytes (Retallack 1977; Karrfalt 
1986). 
Division Pteridophyta 
Class Filicopsida 
Order Filicales 
Family Dipteridaceae 
Genus Hausmannia Dunker, 1846 
Type species 
Hausmannia dichotoma Dunker, 1846; Jurassic; 
near Buckenburg, Bavaria. 
Hausmannia sp. 
Figures 4A,C 
1961 Hausmannia sp.; White; p. 306; plate 8, figure 
4. [1961a]. 
1993 Hausmannia sp.; McLoughlin and Guppy; p. 
14; figure 7. 
Material 
WAM P.65.42, WAM P.88.13, WAM P.89.166, 
WAM P.89.181, WAM P.96.9. 
Distribution 
Broome Sandstone (Neocomian-Barremian), 
Canning Basin; Lees Sandstone (Neocomian?), 
Carpentaria Basin, Northern Territory (White 
1961b; Dettmann el al. 1992). 
Description 
Frond flabellate, up to 42 mm long and 47 mm 
wide; base cuneate, tapering to long petiole (Figure 
4C); apex rounded, undulate, or broadly dentate. 
Single vein enters base of frond from petiole, 
bifurcates up to six times producing a radiating 
array of dominant veins; each ultimate dominant 
vein enters base of a marginal tooth (Figure 4A). 
Up to five orders of closely anastomosing 
subsidiary veins subdivide lamina between 
dominant veins into a meshwork of <0.25 mm 2 
aureoles. Petiole 1 mm wide, >6.5 cm long. 
Sporangia not evident. 
Comments 
Hausmannia has affinities with reticulate-veined 
pinnatifid dipteridacean fronds such as Goeppertella 
Oishi and Yamashita emend. Arrondo and Petriella, 
1982, Dictyophyllum Lindley and Hutton, 1834, 
Thaumatopteris Goeppert, 1841, and Clalhropteris 
Brongniart, 1828 (Herbst, 1975). Hausmannia had a 
cosmopolitan distribution during the Jurassic and 
Cretaceous (Corsin and Waterlot 1979) with several 
species known from gondwanan continents, 
although some are based on scanty material. 
Hausmannia papilio Feruglio emend. Herbst 1960 
fronds from the Early Cretaceous of Argentina are 
most closely comparable to the Western Australian 
specimens although examples of the former do not 
show long petioles and are more circular with 
slightly auriculate bases (Herbst 1960). Hausmannia 
pachyderma Sukh-Dev 1972b and specimens 
assigned to Hausmannia crenata (Nathorst) Moller 
from India (Bose and Sah 1968) can be 
distinguished from the Western Australian form 
by their undulate margins and coarsely reticulate 
venation. The Indian H. crookshanki Shah and 
Singh, 1964 differs by its apically cleft lamina. 
Of the previously described Australian 
Figure 3 A Isoetites elegans Walkom 1944; Rosette of linear univeined leaves; UWA16687; Leederville Formation; x 
0.8; B, Nathorstianella babbagensis (Woodward) Glaessner and Rao, 1955; Corm impression with spirally 
arranged leaf/root scars; WAM P.88.2; Broome Sandstone; x 3; C, Megasporangia of Isoetites elegans 
Walkom, 1944; UWA16683; Leederville Formation; x 8; D, Scanning electron micrograph of Isoetites elegans 
Walkom, 1944 megaspores; AMF39815; Leederville Formation; x 100; E, Microsporangia (Mi) and 
megasporangia (Me) of Isoetites elegans Walkom, 1944; UWA16683; Leederville Formation; x 4; F, Scanning 
electron micrograph of surface of Isoetites elegans Walkom, 1944 microsporangium showing ill-defined 
microspore outlines; AMF39815; Leederville Formation; x 1000. 
