52 S. McLoughlin 
Table 1 Tentative revision of Lower Cretaceous plants illustrated or identified by White (1961a) from Canning and 
Officer Basins collections compiled during regional geological surveys of the 1950s and 1960s. 
White's (1961a) identification/ illustration 
Formation 
Tentative revised identification 
Stenopteris tripinnata Walk. (PI. 4, fig. 6) 
Cronin Sst 
cf. Aculea bifida 
Linguifolium denmeadi Jones and de Jersey 
Cronin Sst 
Phyllopteroides westralensis 
(PI 5, fig. 3) 
‘Neorhachopteris minuta' (PI. 5, fig. 4) 
Callawa Fm 
Sphenopteris sp. A 
Pagiophyllum peregrinum Sch. (PI. 5, fig. 5) 
Callawa Fm 
?Araucaria sp. 
Rujfordia mortoni Walk. (PI. 5, figs 6,7) 
Callawa Fm 
cf. Sphenopteris sp. A 
Elatocladus planus (Feist.) (PI. 6, figs 1A, 2A) 
Cronin Sst 
Elatocladus ginginensis 
Taeniopteris cf. elongata Walk. (PI. 6, 
Cronin Sst 
Taeniopteris daintreei 
figs IB, 2B) 
Ptilophyllum peclen (Phillips) (PI. 6, fig. ID; 
PL 8, fig. 1) 
Cronin Sst, 
Broome Sst 
Ptilophyllum cutchense 
Cycadolepis sp. (PI. 6, fig. 2C) 
Cronin Sst 
not identified 
stem (PI. 6, fig. 3) 
Callawa Fm 
Nathorstianella babbagensis 
fine frond (PI. 6, fig. 4) 
Callawa Fm 
not identified 
Pachypteris sp. (PI. 6, fig. 5) 
Callawa Fm 
Onychiopsis sp. 
Cladophlebis australis (Morr.) (PI. 7, figs 1,6) 
Callawa Fm, 
Broome Set 
Cladophlebis cf. oblonga 
Cladophlebis albertsi (Dunk.) (PI. 7, fig. 2) 
Broome Sst 
?Cladophlebis sp. 
Dichopteris delicatula Sew. (PI. 7, fig. 3) 
Broome Sst 
ISphenopteris or Cladophlebis sp. 
Nilssonia schaumbergensis Dunk. (PI. 7, fig. 4) 
Broome Sst 
Nilssonia or Taeniopteris sp. 
Otozamites bengalensis O. and M. (PI. 7, fig. 5) 
Broome Sst 
Ptilophyllum cutchense 
Bucklandia sp. (PI. 8, fig. 2) 
Broome Sst 
Bucklandia sp. 
Zamites sp. (PI. 8, fig. 3) 
Broome Sst 
Ptilophyllum acutifolium 
Hausmannia cf. buchii Andrae (PI. 8, fig. 4) 
Broome Sst 
Hausmannia sp. 
Taeniopteris sp. 
Cronin Sst 
not assessed 
Carpolilhus circularis 
Cronin Sst 
not assessed 
Hausmannia sp. 
Cronin Sst 
not assessed 
Cladophlebis sp. 
Broome Sst 
not assessed 
Taeniopteris howardensis Walk. 
Broome Sst 
not assessed 
Dictyophyllum davidi Walk. 
Broome Sst 
not assessed 
Pterophyllum sp. 
Broome Sst 
not assessed 
Sphenopteris superba Shirley 
Broome Sst 
not assessed 
Brachyphyllum mamillare L. and H. 
Broome Sst 
not assessed 
Ginkgoites digitata Brongn. 
Callawa Fm 
not assessed 
Brachyphyllum foliage 
Callawa Fm 
not assessed 
identified IJohnstonia, Ginkgo, Cladophlebis, 
Pagiophyllum, IBrachyphyllum, Taeniopteris, 
Sphenopteris, ISamaropsis, Dictyophyllum and 
indeterminate wood from the Callawa Formation, 
Canning Basin. The presence of Johnstonia 
(=Dicroidium) would denote a Triassic age for this 
unit but the identification is probably incorrect. 
Brunnschweiler (1960) listed but did not describe 
or illustrate the following taxa from the Broome 
Sandstone at Gantheaume Point: Ptilophyllum 
pecten, Cladophlebis australis, Otozamiles cf. 
bengalensis, Pseudocycas sp., Hausmannia sp., 
ICordaites sp., Pterophyllum sp., ?Microphyllopteris 
sp., Sphenopteris cf. superba Walkom, 7Dictyophyllum 
sp., Cladophlebis cf. albertsi, Taeniopteris cf. 
howardensis, and Nilssonia sp. Most of these taxa 
are probably attributable to species described 
herein. The identification of Cordaites, a Palaeozoic 
genus, is almost certainly incorrect. The 
Dictyophyllum specimens may represent 
fragmentary portions of Hausmannia fronds 
although the former is not uncommon in the Indian 
late Mesozoic (Bose and Jana 1979; Bose and 
Banerji 1984). Specimens referred to Otozamites, 
Pterophyllum and Pseudocycas may belong to one of 
the Ptilophyllum species described above. 
Comparisons between the Western Australian 
assemblages 
A significant number of plant taxa are shared 
between the various Western Australian Early 
Cretaceous formations (Table 2). Although there is 
evidence of intra-Australian floral provincialism in 
the Early Cretaceous (Dettmann et al. 1992), the 
Western Australian marginal basins all lay within 
latitudes of about 45°-55° during that period 
(Veevers et al. 1991) and probably experienced 
similar climatic conditions. Minor differences 
between tire Western Australian assemblages are 
probably attributable to limited sampling, local 
depositional factors and environmental setting. For 
example, the fully fluvial Cronin Sandstone 
appears to contain a higher representation of 
gymnosperms than units deposited in deltaic or 
