Early Cretaceous macrofloras 
arrangement. Leaves flattened; apices bluntly 
rounded; bases slightly contracted to slightly 
decurrent. 
Description 
Slender terminal axes (reaching 3 mm wide and 
51 mm long) bearing numerous univeined linear 
leaves (Figures 9C,E,G). Leaves spirally inserted 
although basally twisted to lie in a common plane. 
Leaves inserted on branches at 40°-90°. Leaves up 
to 1 mm wide, 20 mm long, flattened, straight or 
slightly flexed distally, apices rounded. Leaf bases 
slightly contracted but not significantly petiolate, 
slightly decurrent (Figure 9D). 
Comments 
Harris 1979 emended Elatocladus Halle, 1913 to 
exclude the morphology of the leaf bases as a 
diagnostic character thus incorporating specimens 
previously assigned to both Elatocladus and Rissikia 
Townrow, 1967. It should be noted, however, that 
some workers (e.g., Anderson and Anderson, 1989) 
have maintained a distinction between these genera 
based on the presence of contracted leaf bases in 
Elatocladus and decurrent leaf bases in Rissikia. In 
the absence of attached reproductive organs the 
Western Australian material is insufficiently 
abundant or well preserved to resolve this 
taxonomic issue and the specimens are assigned to 
a new species within Harris' (1979) broader 
definition of Elatocladus. Numerous species from 
the Gondwanan Mesozoic attributed to Elatocladus, 
Rissikia, or other podocarpacean genera have often 
been distinguished by slight differences in leaflet 
size, shape, leaf arrangement, and petiole 
characters (Petriella and Arrondo 1984). 
Elatocladus gittginensis sp. nov. lacks cuticle but is 
distinguished from other species by the size of its 
slender leaves, rounded leaf apices, and decurrent 
lamina bases which are not as significantly 
contracted as those of Elatocladus lottgifolium 
Baldoni, 1980b, £. plana (Feistmantel) Seward 1919, 
cr Morenoa fertilis Del Fueyo, Archangelsky, and 
Taylor 1990. White's (1961a) Elatocladus plana 
specimens from the Cronin Sandstone have 
identical leaflet characters and are reassigned to E. 
gittginensis. The E. plana specimens of Glaessner 
and Rao (1955) from the Early Cretaceous of South 
Australia are described as having leaves with full 
basal attachment, a feature not consistent with 
Elatocladus. Their specimens may be synonymous 
with E. gittginensis although their illustrations do 
45 
not allow close comparison. Other Australian 
specimens assigned to E, plana (Hill et al. 1966; 
Walkom 1919a); and Rissikia talbragarensis White, 
1981 have either substantially longer or broader 
leaves which show a dense but regular spacing not 
evident in E. gittginensis. 
Elatocladus conferta (Oldham and Morris) Sahni, 
1928 and £. kingianus Bose, Kutty, and 
Maheshwari, 1982 specimens of Halle (1913), Sah 
(1965), Maheshwari and Singh (1976), Bose and 
Banerji (1984), and Walkom (1928) have 
substantially smaller leaves than E. gittginensis. 
Permineralized remains assigned to £. sahttii 
Vishnu-Mittre, 1957 from the Indian Jurassic have 
similar decurrent bases but the absence of 
anatomical details in the Western Australian 
specimens prevents closer comparison. Extra- 
Gondwanan Elatocladus species are more readily 
distinguishable on gross leaf morphology or 
cuticular details (e.g.. Miller and Lapaska 1985; 
Kimura and Ohana 1988,1989; Kimura et al. 1991). 
Incertae sedis 
Genus Carpolithes Brongniart 1822 
Type species 
Carpolithes thalictroides Brongniart, 1822; Tertiary; 
France and England. 
Carpolithes bullsbrookensis sp. nov. 
Figures 9F,H-K 
1993 Carpolithes sp. McLoughlin and Guppy; figure 
19. 
Holotype 
UWA10469A; Bullsbrook Formation 
(Neocomian-Barremian); 2.5 km northeast of 
Bullsbrook Hotel, Perth Basin. 
Material 
UWA10374C,D, UWA10462B, UWA10464H,I, 
UWA10468B, UWA10469A,B-F, UWA10473A. 
Distribution 
Bullsbrook Formation (Neocomian-Barremian); 
Perth Basin. 
Diagnosis 
Ovate to elliptical wingless seeds, reaching 5x7 
Figure 9 A,B, Araucarian cone scales; (A) WAM P.96.5; (B) WAM P.96.6; Broome Sandstone; both x 4; C-E, G, 
Elatocladus gittginensis sp. nov.; detached planated foliage-bearing twigs; (C) UWA16703, x 1.5; (D) 
UWA118835, x 5; (E) UWA10466C, x 2; (G) UWA10464E, x 2; all from Bullsbrook Formation; F, H-K, 
Carpolithes bullsbrookensis sp. nov.; seed impressions and internal casts; (F) UWA10469F; (H) UWA104688; 
(I) UWA10462B; (J) UWA10469C; (K) UWA10469A; all from Bullsbrook Formation; all x 8. 
