Early Cretaceous macrofloras 
51 
diameter. The degraded zones occur commonly, 
though not exclusively, within the latewood 
(Figures 11A,B,C). The cavities are either filled 
with secondary iron oxides or silica or occasionally 
contain ramifying weakly septate filaments 
reaching 450 pm in length and 4-15 pm in width 
(Figure 11D). The filaments branch irregularly, 
have an external bullate texture, and appear to 
contain irregularly spaced and poorly defined 
septa (Figures 11E-G,I). Filaments often occur in 
intimate contact with the degraded wood cells of 
the cavity margin (Figure 11F). 
Comments 
Such filaments and spindle-shaped wood cavities 
are morphologically similar to saprophytic fungal 
hyphae and white pocket rot cavities described 
from other modem and fossil woods (Blanchette 
1980; Stubblefield et al. 1985; Stubblefield and 
Taylor 1986, 1988; Weaver el al., in press). Jefferson 
(1987) figured fungal hyphae and possible spores 
in Early Cretaceous conifer wood from Alexander 
Island, Antarctica, and Halle's (1913) sketch of 
Mesozoic fossil wood from the Antarctic Peninsula 
also shows elliptical markings reminiscent of 
pocket rot. The Birdrong Sandstone woods 
incorporate the first examples of fossilized 
saprophytic fungi recorded from Western Australia 
(McLoughlin et al. 1994). 
Other plant remains 
White (1961a) figured a number of Western 
Australian plant macrofossils many of which have 
been reassigned here to different taxa on the basis 
of information from new material in the Western 
Australian Museum and University of Western 
Australia collections (Table 1). However, a few of 
her figured specimens are not matched by 
conspecific material in the Western Australian 
collections. Her Pagiophyllum peregrinum Schimper 
from the Callawa Formation, although similar to 
Araucaria sp. B, has leaves with distinctly 
mucronate apices. White's (1961a, plate 6, figure 4) 
"fine frond" is too incomplete for confident 
identification but it may represent the fragmentary 
remains of an Aculea or Sphenopteris frond or an 
Elatocladus terminal twig. Her Pachypteris sp., also 
from the Callawa formation, is a pinna bearing 
oblanceolate pinnules some of which appear to 
have elliptical fertile bodies along their acroscopic 
margins. Similar fronds from the Victorian and 
Indian Early Cretaceous have been assigned to 
Onychiopsis paradoxus Bose and Sukh Dev, 1961 
(Drinnan and Chambers 1986). White's (1961a) 
Cladophlebis albertsi (Dunker) from the Leveque 
Sandstone [now regarded as part of the Broome 
Sandstone (Yeates et al. 1984)] differs from 
Cladophlebis sp. cf. C. oblonga by its pointed 
pinnules but her specimen is too poorly preserved 
for close comparison to other described species. 
White's (1961a) Dichopteris delicatula Seward from 
the Broome Sandstone does not have preserved 
venation and may be a Sphenopteris or Cladophlebis 
species. Her Nilssonia schaumbergensis Dunker, also 
from the Broome Sandstone has pinnules of 
variable width. The specimen may be a Taeniopteris 
daintreei leaf showing irregular lamina dissection 
like some forms illustrated herein. White's 
Cycadolepis sp. from the Cronin Sandstone is too 
poorly preserved for definite identification. White 
(1961a) also mentions but does not figure several 
other plant taxa from the Canning and Officer 
Basin Lower Cretaceous including: Carpolithus 
circularis, Cladophlebis sp., Taeniopteris howardensis 
Walkom, Dictyophyllum davidi Walkom, 
Pterophyllum sp., Sphenopteris superba Shirley, 
Brachyphylhim mamitlare Lindley and Hutton, and 
Ginkgoites digitata Brongniart. These identifications 
(Table 1) have not been assessed in the present 
study. 
Walkom (in McWhae et al. 1958) identified 
specimens referrable to Nilssonia, Otozamites, and 
Elatocladus from the Nanutarra Formation. The 
whereabouts of this material is unknown and no 
revision of the identifications can be attempted. 
However, these genera are common elements of 
the Early Cretaceous Broome Sandstone flora and 
it is likely that several species are shared between 
these formations. Walkom (in McWhae et al. 1958) 
also reported fossil leaves from the Yarraloola 
Conglomerate (Early Cretaceous, Carnarvon Basin) 
but provided no identifications and the location of 
his specimens is unknown prohibiting systematic 
re-evaluation. 
Brunnschweiler (in Traves et al. 1956) tentatively 
Figure 11 Aspects of fungal attack on, and hyphae preservation within, Mesembrioxylon (conifer) wood from the 
Birdrong Sandstone. (A) UWA120231, transverse section of wood showing fungal-degraded pockets, x 2. 
(B) UWA120187, transverse section of wood showing fungal-degraded pockets positioned within latewood, 
x 6; (C) UWA120221, transverse section of wood showing initial stages of cell breakdown and pocket 
formation, x 12; (D) UWA120186, details of a pocket with numerous phosphate coated fungal hyphae and 
a spherical body (upper left), x 60; (E) UWA120217, branched hyphae within a pocket, x 60; (F) 
UWA120232, details of fungal hyphae represented by a thin central filament surrounded by a bullate- 
textured phosphate coating, x 120; (G) UWA120186, details of an expanded area near the tip of a fungal 
hypha, x 600; (H) UWA120132, fungal hyphae in contact with wood tracheids along the margin of a 
pocket, x 120; (I) UWA120232, branched fungal hyphae in pocket, x 120. 
