To better understand the riparian floras associated with Early Cretaceous vertebrate localities in Victoria, Australia, we studied 291 palynological samples from 48 sites in the Otway and Gippsland basins. Podocarpaceae represent the major component of the open canopy forests of the Barremian-Aptian, whereas Araucariaceae are increasingly prolific in the Albian. Ferns, particularly Cyatheaceae, represent large components of the understorey flora through the Barremian-Aptian, whereas Schizaeaceae and Gleicheniaceae ferns and angiosperms are more common in the Albian. Notably, all recorded palynofloras imply a high-rainfall regime, despite the high palaeolatitude (70-85 degrees S), through the Barremian, Aptian and Albian in Victoria. The increasingly warm conditions globally, from the Barremian to Albian, likely drove the prominent floral turnover observed, including numerous extinctions, and the rapid diversification of angiosperms. Increased competition may also have contributed to the decline in lycophyte richness and abundance, with angiosperms outcompeting lycophytes in rapidly colonizing newly available braidplain sites after flooding events. These inferences, also consistent with geochemical and palaeobotanical proxies, suggest that cool-temperate climates supported dynamic and forested floodplain environments in the Early Cretaceous rift valley of Victoria.Vera A. Korasidis* [vera.korasidis@unimelb.edu.au], School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia; Barbara E. Wagstaff [wagstaff.be@gmail.com], School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.

The bathyal Ocean Drilling Program Site 765 at 5725 m water depth, offshore northwest Australia at 16 degrees S is directly under the influence of the Australian monsoon during the Austral summer and is the recipient of continental dust during the Austral winter. It is downstream of the Indonesian Throughflow, which is a major arm of the global thermohaline circulation. As such it is ideally situated to record the climate and oceanic consequences of Quaternary climate variability. Despite being over 400 km from northwest Australia, palynomorphs (pollen and spores) are relatively common in this section, sourced via aeolian (during the dry winter) and benthic transportation processes and sediment plumes (during the summer monsoon). Detailed palynological analyses of this flora in the upper part of this core reveals intermittent snap shots of environmental and climate change over the last 300 kyrs. Interglacial stages are interpreted to be characterised by palynomorph-rich turbidite and calcareous ooze deposition whereas palynomorph-poor slowly accumulating siliceous oozes (deposited below the Calcium Carbonate Compensation Depth) are present during glacials. The dominance of Poaceae sourced from the Australian mainland in interglacial periods suggests that vegetation during these periods was similar to today. Interglacial palynofloral assemblages suggest a more intense wet season (Australian monsoon) with higher rainfall that allowed more active erosion and deposition onto the shelf. The presence of Indonesian sourced pollen and fern spore taxa, as well as warm water dinoflagellate species suggest enhanced Leeuwin Current and monsoonal intensity during interglacials times. The youngest part of the core is dominated by siliceous ooze, likely deposited during the Last Glacial Maximum and the early Holocene. The lack of calcareous ooze near the top of the core is likely caused by Holocene to Recent erosive processes or core disturbance. The presence of common charcoal in all samples over the last 300 kyrs shows that fire was a constant feature of the landscape in northwest Australia prior to human occupation of the region 65,000 years ago. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Palynology is used to provide new age controls for the coastal exposures yielding Early Cretaceous vertebrate faunas in the Otway and Gippsland basins, southeast Australia. This work shows all vertebrate-bearing deposits in the Otway Basin are Albian in age. On the eastern margin of Cape Otway, vertebrate-bearing deposits are attributed to the early Albian Crybelosporites striatus Zone, except for one in the younger Coptospora paradoxa Zone. To the west of Cape Otway, the sampled deposits range from the oldest zone in the Albian, the C. striatus Zone, to the C. paradoxa and Phimopollenites pannosus zones, providing a complete section of the Albian stage. In the Gippsland Basin, the structural setting of vertebrate deposits is more complicated and large portions of the coastal exposures consist of repeated sections controlled by small-scale faults. Sites in this region lie below or above the Barremian/Aptian boundary. However, owing to the paucity of age indicator species, some sampled deposits remain undated. In this basin, the ranges of certain key palynomorph species (e.g., Pilosisporites notensis and Pilosisporites parvispinosus) differed from those outlined in some previously published biostratigraphic schemes. The discovery of the angiosperm pollen Clavatipollenites hughesii in the lowermost Aptian deposits of the Gippsland Basin is consistent with its first occurrence elsewhere in Australia and shows it is a reliable indicator for the Aptian stage. This study shows that there is currently a collection bias towards vertebrate assemblages that are latest Barremian and early Albian in age.Barbara E. Wagstaff [wagstaff@unimelb.edu.au], The School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia; Stephen J. Gallagher [sjgall@unimelb.edu.au], The School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia; W. Michael Hall [mike.hall@monash.edu], School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia; Vera A. Korasidis [korasidisv@si.edu], Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Paleobiology, NHB121, 10th and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC20013-7012, USA; Thomas H. Rich [trich@museum.vic.gov.au], Melbourne Museum, 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia; Doris E. Seegets-Villiers [doris.seegets-villiers@monash.edu], School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia; Patricia A. Vickers-Rich [pat.rich@monash.edu], School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia and Swinburne University of Technology, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia.

The Early Cretaceous high-paleolatitude palynofloras from the Otway and Gippsland basins of southeastern Australia contain diverse angiosperm assemblages not described previously. Clavatipollenites hughesii recovered from the early Aptian Upper Cyclosporites hughesii subzone in the Gippsland Basin represents the first record of angiosperm pollen in Australia, coeval to records recovered from the Great Artesian and North West Shelf basins of northern Australia. Tricolpate pollen including Tricolpites variabilis, Rousea georgensis and Striatopollis spp., are first recorded in the late Albian Upper Coptospora paradoxa subzone in southeastern Australia. This represents the second oldest occurrence of tricolpate pollen in Australia, the first occurring in the older middle Albian Lower Coptospora paradoxa subzone in the northern Great Artesian Basin. By the latest Albian Phimopollenites pannosus Zone angiosperms had diversified rapidly in southeastern Australia. The delayed appearance, rise in abundance and diversification of eudicot angiosperms in the high-latitude southern basins of Australia, relative to low- and mid-latitude settings, supports a latitudinally diachronous pattern of angiosperm range expansion from warmer paleoequatorial regions to relatively cooler high-latitude settings. Increasing mean annual temperatures globally in the late Albian likely facilitated the expansion of angiosperms into high-latitude settings in the Southern and Northern hemispheres.

New palynological analysis of the Middle Eocene to Middle Miocene Latrobe Group coals of the Gippsland Basin in Australia sheds new light on fire adaptation in Australia's modern flora. The distribution of charcoal and fire-prone flora within brown coals is entirely controlled by facies and the paleoenvironments within the peatland, and does not result from drier climates as has been previously suggested. There is therefore, no evidence of climatic drying from this Cenozoic peatland record. Charcoal and fire-prone floras are associated with emergent and meadow marsh environments that produce darker coal lithotypes. Counter-intuitively, the low-nutrient and fire-prone environments that fringed the ever-wet rainforests of the Latrobe Group peatlands may have represented an ideal setting for southeastern Australia's modern fire-adapted and sclerophyllous flora (i.e., Eucalyptus and Banksia) to evolve in.

A new mid-latitude terrestrial climate proxy record is presented for southeastern Australia. The Middle Eocene to Middle Miocene palynofloral and delta C-13 record of the Latrobe Group, Gippsland Basin, details that the climate of southeastern Australia, paleolatitude 60-50 degrees S, supported the growth of highly diverse subtropical to cool-temperate rainforests. These forests are characterized by mesothermal to microthermal floral elements that are here interpreted as subtropical (Malvacipollis subtilis and Cupanieidites orthoteichus dominated palynofloras), warm temperate (Beaupreadites elegansiformis and Phyllocladus mawsonii dominated palynofloras) and cool-temperate (Nothofagus spp. and Dacrycarpidites australiensis dominated palynofloras) rainforests. The palynofloral record of the Latrobe Group indicates that mean annual temperatures were between 20 and 24 degrees C during the Middle Eocene resulting in subtropical rainforests, between 14 and 20 degrees C for the late Middle Eocene to earliest (i.e. pre-Oi1) Oligocene resulting in warm-temperate rainforests, between 10 and 14 degrees C for the late Early Oligocene to Early Miocene resulting in cool-temperate rainforests and between 14 and 20 degrees C in the Middle Miocene, facilitating the resurgence of warm-temperate rainforest floras. Rainfall was also likely in excess of 1500 mm throughout the Middle Eocene to the Middle Miocene in southeastern Australia. The climatic trends preserved within this mid-latitude terrestrial record relate to global Cenozoic cooling, the exception being the Middle Miocene records, which instead relate to the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum. In the mid-latitude Gippsland Basin, cooling appears to have begun in the Middle Eocene. Correlation of our palynoflora with records from Antarctica and New Zealand, in addition to benthic delta O-18 records, reaffirms that the Latrobe Group coals provide a long-term, largely authochthonous mid-latitude floral record that directly relates to global climatic evolution through the Cenozoic. Our new mid-latitude terrestrial record provides critical insight into the validation of Eocene-Oligocene climate models and improves our understanding of mid-latitude terrestrial ecosystem responses to increased carbon dioxide forcing. The correlation between the delta C-13 values of the Yallourn and Morwell coal seams to benthic delta C-13 records also highlights that a relationship exists between the terrestrial and marine benthic delta C-13 record.

Geological unit correlation and reconstruction of stratigraphic sequences are critical for the evaluation of hydrocarbon resources. Several parameters such as age, thickness, grain size, extent and maximum burial depth of the sediments need to be considered for stratigraphic restoration and depositional setting modelling. However, some parameters are not always reliable for this purpose. For example, the size and extent of fluvial sediments are highly variable, as shown by Gibling (2006), and are determined by factors such as tectonic events and sediment supply. This study aims to present the application of thermal maturity analysis for stratigraphic restoration, particularly in faulted outcrops where palynological data fail to correlate the non-marine units of limited lateral extent. The restoration technique used in this study is discussed using an example from a recent case study by Aghaei, Hall, Wagstaff, and Tait (2017) on the non-marine Strzelecki Group outcrops in West Gippsland, Victoria, Australia (Figure 1).

Lower Cretaceous (Barremian to Albian) fossil plant assemblages are preserved in sediments of the Otway Group, Otway Basin, and contemporaneous Strzelecki Group, Gippsland Basin, southeastern Australia. Detailed lithofacies and biofacies analyses of terrestrial strata within the upper Eumeralla Formation (Albian), Otway Group, allow fine-scale interpretation of braided fluvial and paludal depositional environments throughout the succession. The previously described flora is re-assessed in light of changes in depositional style and plant communities to describe six Albian biofacies. Forests in the highlands are dominated by Araucariaceae conifers, which turn over to Podocarpaceae and Cheirolepidiaceae forests on the dry, raised areas in the lowlands. Ferns and angiosperms inhabit the moist floodplains and water ferns and lycophytes dwell in the ox-bow lakes. Significant changes occur between floral communities characteristic of riparian, levee and floodbasin settings through the Early Cretaceous. Albian floras are cha racterized by the dominance of broad-leafed araucarian conifers, an understory of diverse ferns and a dearth of seedferns and angiosperms. There is a notable absence of macrofossil ginkgoaleans in the Eumeralla Formation, although they reappear in younger (Turonian) deposits in southeastern Australia, but angiosperms are extremely scarce as macrofossils compared to the diversity recently recorded in the pollen record. Abundant charcoal demonstrates that fire continued to be a significant environmental factor at high latitudes during the middle to late Albian. The discovery of dinoflagellate species supports an earlier marine incursion and increased coastal environments, probably inhabited by cheirolepids, across the Otway Basin. Palaeontological, palynological and sedimentological data has provided a synthesis of the region's warm, high-latitude, palaeoclimatic setting in the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous when compared to the cooler Barremian to Aptian.

Poropat, S.F., Martin, S.K., Tosolini, A.-M.P., Wagstaff, B.E, Bean, L.B., Kear, B.P., Vickers-Rich, P. & Rich, T.H., May 2018. Early Cretaceous polar biotas of Victoria, southeastern Australia—an overview of research to date. Alcheringa 42, 158–230. ISSN 0311-5518. Although Cretaceous fossils (coal excluded) from Victoria, Australia, were first reported in the 1850s, it was not until the 1950s that detailed studies of these fossils were undertaken. Numerous fossil localities have been identified in Victoria since the 1960s, including the Koonwarra Fossil Bed (Strzelecki Group) near Leongatha, the Dinosaur Cove and Eric the Red West sites (Otway Group) at Cape Otway, and the Flat Rocks site (Strzelecki Group) near Cape Paterson. Systematic exploration over the past five decades has resulted in the collection of thousands of fossils representing various plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. Some of the best-preserved and most diverse Hauterivian–Barremian floral assemblages in Australia derive from outcrops of the lower Strzelecki Group in the Gippsland Basin. The slightly younger Koonwarra Fossil Bed (Aptian) is a Konservat-Lagerstätte that also preserves abundant plants, including one of the oldest known flowers. In addition, insects, crustaceans (including the only syncaridans known from Australia between the Triassic and the present), arachnids (including Australia’s only known opilione), the stratigraphically youngest xiphosurans from Australia, bryozoans, unionoid molluscs and a rich assemblage of actinopterygian fish are known from the Koonwarra Fossil Bed. The oldest known—and only Mesozoic—fossil feathers from the Australian continent constitute the only evidence for tetrapods at Koonwarra. By contrast, the Barremian–Aptian-aged deposits at the Flat Rocks site, and the Aptian–Albian-aged strata at the Dinosaur Cove and Eric the Red West sites, are all dominated by tetrapod fossils, with actinopterygians and dipnoans relatively rare. Small ornithopod (=basal neornithischian) dinosaurs are numerically common, known from four partial skeletons and a multitude of isolated bones. Aquatic meiolaniform turtles constitute another prominent faunal element, represented by numerous isolated bones and articulated carapaces and plastrons. More than 50 specimens—mostly lower jaws—evince a high diversity of mammals, including monotremes, a multituberculate and several enigmatic ausktribosphenids. Relatively minor components of these fossil assemblages are diverse theropods (including birds), rare ankylosaurs and ceratopsians, pterosaurs, non-marine plesiosaurs and a lepidosaur. In the older strata of the upper Strzelecki Group, temnospondyl amphibians—the youngest known worldwide—are a conspicuous component of the fauna, whereas crocodylomorphs appear to be present only in up-sequence deposits of the Otway Group. Invertebrates are uncommon, although decapod crustaceans and unionoid bivalves have been described. Collectively, the Early Cretaceous biota of Victoria provides insights into a unique Mesozoic high-latitude palaeoenvironment and elucidates both palaeoclimatic and palaeobiogeographic changes throughout more than 25 million years of geological time. Stephen F. Poropat*† [sporopat@swin.edu.au; stephenfporopat@gmail.com], Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, John St, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia; Sarah K. Martin*‡ [sarah.martin@dmirs.wa.gov.au; martin.sarahk@gmail.com] Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain St, East Perth, Western Australia 6004, Australia; Anne-Marie P. Tosolini [a.tosolini@unimelb.edu.au] and Barbara E. Wagstaff [wagstaff@unimelb.edu.au] School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia; Lynne B. Bean [lynne.bean@anu.edu.au] Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2001, Australia; Benjamin P. Kear [benjamin.kear@em.uu.se] Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 16, Uppsala SE-752 36, Sweden; Patricia Vickers-Rich§ [prich@swin.edu.au; pat.rich@monash.edu] Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, John St, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia; Thomas H. Rich [trich@museum.vic.gov.au] Museum Victoria, PO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. *These authors contributed equally to this work. †Also affiliated with: Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, Lot 1 Dinosaur Drive, PO Box 408, Winton, Queensland 4735, Australia. ‡Also affiliated with: Earth and Planetary Sciences, Western Australian Museum, Welshpool, Western Australia 6101, Australia. §Also affiliated with: School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia.

The Cenozoic spore-pollen zonation scheme of southeastern Australia is used to constrain the ages of marine and terrestrial strata throughout Australasia. New palynological, strontium isotope and foraminiferal data from the Torquay and Gippsland basins in southeastern Australia are here used to revise and chronologically calibrate the Oligocene and Miocene portions of this scheme. The revised age assigned to the Upper Nothofagidites asperus/Lower Proteacidites tuberculatus zonal boundary is 30.5-31.2 Ma, the Lower/Middle P. tuberculatus zonal boundary is 23.03 Ma, the Middle/Upper P. tuberculatus zonal boundary is approximately 21.1 Ma and the Upper P. tuberculatus/Triporopollenites bellus zonal boundary is 17.54 Ma. This revision confirms that a near-continuous Early Miocene neritic sequence is present in the Torquay Basin. The new ages also suggest that the timing of coal seam deposition in the Latrobe Valley was episodic, rather than continuous as has previously been interpreted. We propose that abrupt changes in moisture content across seam boundaries are associated with stratigraphic gaps. The new age controls facilitate more accurate comparisons of time-equivalent paleobotanical material throughout the southern hemisphere. The refinements presented will improve future Cenozoic paleoclimatic and paleobotanical reconstructions concerning Australia, New Zealand, South America and Antarctica. Crown Copyright (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A detailed examination of the brown coal facies preserved in the Latrobe Valley Morwell 1B seam indicates that the type of peat-forming environment and the associated hydrological regime are the main factors influencing the development of lithotypes in brown coal deposits. New palynological data from the Morwell 1B seam suggests that each respective lithotype in the lightening-upwards lithotype cycles was deposited in a particular depositional environment that was characterised by a distinct floral community. The laminated dark lithotype represents a fire-prone emergent marsh that grew on the margins of a coastal lagoon and/or freshwater swamp. This facies grades into the dark lithotype, representing the transition from a meadow marsh to a periodically flooded ombrogenous forested bog. The medium and lighter lithotypes are interpreted as being deposited in an angiosperm-dominated ombrogenous forest bog that was intolerant of fire. These peat-forming environments are interpreted as being largely controlled by moisture and relative depth to water table. Each environment produces distinct lithotypes and lightening-upwards cycles are interpreted as terrestrialization cycles. As the peat grew upwards and above the water table, less moist conditions prevailed and lighter lithotypes were produced. The observed change in colour, from darker to lighter lithotypes, results from the environment evolving from anaerobic/inundated to less anaerobic/less moist settings via terrestrialization. The thin and laterally extensive light and pale lithotypes that top the cycles are interpreted to represent a residual layer of concentrated, oxidation resistant peat-forming elements that result from intense weathering and aerobic degradation of the peats. At a generic level, modern lowland bogs of South Westland in New Zealand have remarkably similar floral/ecological gradients to those of the Oligo-Miocene Morwell 1B brown coal cycles in Australia. This suggests that modern New Zealand bogs can be used as floral/ecological analogues in order to better understand these Oligo-Miocene peatland environments.

The Lower Cretaceous Strzelecki Group forms the basement to the eastern part of the Gippsland Basin, but is exposed in the west and forms spectacular outcrops, especially along the coastal area between San Remo and Inverloch. The coastal area is highly faulted and lacks stratigraphic markers so matching sections in different fault blocks based only on lithology has not been possible. A combination of mapping, detailed logging, vitrinite reflectance measurements and palynology were used to determine the present- day thickness of the coastal sections and the amount of erosion that occurred during the Late Cretaceous. A total thickness of about 1500 m is inferred between Harmers Haven and Inverloch but because of the amount of faulting and probable repeated sections, the true thickness of Strzelecki Group exposed in the coastal outcrops is only about 300 m. Based on palynology and vitrinite reflectance results, the reconstructed Strzelecki Group stratigraphy has been subdivided into three distinct 'bio-blocks', with an eroded section estimated to range from 1.5 km (0.3-2.6 km at perpendicular to 95% confidence limits) to 2.7 km ( 2.2-3.1 km at perpendicular to 95% confidence limits).

This study provides the first record of the high diversity and abundance of Victoria's earliest angiosperms from outcrops in the non-marine upper Eumeralla Formation of the Otway Basin. The biostratigraphic schemes established for the Albian of Australia are re-evaluated using more reliable and widespread index species, resulting in the construction of a high-resolution Albian biostratigraphy in the Otway Basin. New localities in the uppermost outcrop of the Eumerella Formation contain spore–pollen assemblages that cannot be placed in the existing scheme and a new Upper Phimopollenites pannosus Subzone is recognised. The correlation of the P. pannosus Zone to the geochronological timescale was re-assessed and shows that it is 103–101.51Ma, giving a late Albian age. In contrast to previous studies that record low diversity angiosperm assemblages in the Albian, this study identifies twenty-three angiosperm species, including one new species, Tricolpites tortuous. The high diversity and abundance of angiosperm pollen in the Otway Basin provides further evidence that angiosperms probably migrated into eastern Gondwana via South America and Antarctica.

Morphological variation of stratigraphically important species in

The cyclic succession of brown coals in the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland Basin, Australia, records an exceptional floral and charcoal record from the Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene. New palynological, geological and charcoal data are consistent with existing colourimetry, carbon isotope, and organic geochemical and palaeobotanical data, indicating that the repeated lithotype cycles represent relative drying (terrestrialization). Based on this detailed palynological study, the vegetation succession within the Latrobe Valley peatlands is interpreted to have begun with a fire-prone emergent marsh of bulrushes (Typhaceae), which grades landward into a fire-prone meadow marsh of rushes (Restionaceae), heaths (Ericaceae) and coral-ferns (Gleicheniaceae). This marsh environment then developed into a forested bog, with gymnosperms (e.g. the Podocarpaceae Dacrycarpus and Dacrydium) as the dominant trees, until an ombrogenous forest bog developed, predominantly consisting of angiosperms (e.g. Nothofagus, Quintinia).The similarity between vegetation successions in New Zealand and the lightening-upwards cycles from the Latrobe Valley coals suggests that New Zealand's modern vegetation communities represent a floral analogue for the successions preserved in the Latrobe Valley coals. High abundances of micro and macro charcoal recorded in the darker lithotypes, within the lithotype cycles of the M1B and M2A seams, suggest that the Latrobe Valley peatlands were subject to repeated fires during the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The mandible and dentition of the Early Cretaceous monotreme Teinolophos trusleri. Alcheringa 40, xx-xx. ISSN 0311-5518.The monotreme Teinolophos trusleri Rich, Vickers-Rich, Constantine, Flannery, Kool & van Klaveren, 1999 from the Early Cretaceous of Australia is redescribed and reinterpreted here in light of additional specimens of that species and compared with the exquisitely preserved Early Cretaceous mammals from Liaoning Province, China. Together, this material indicates that although T. trusleri lacked a rod of postdentary bones contacting the dentary, as occurs in non-mammalian cynodonts and basal mammaliaforms, it did not share the condition present in all living mammals, including monotremes, of having the three auditory ossicles, which directly connect the tympanic membrane to the fenestra ovalis, being freely suspended within the middle ear cavity. Rather, T. trusleri appears to have had an intermediate condition, present in some Early Cretaceous mammals from Liaoning, in which the postdentary bones cum ear ossicles retained a connection to a persisting Meckel's cartilage although not to the dentary. Teinolophos thus indicates that the condition of freely suspended auditory ossicles was acquired independently in monotremes and therian mammals. Much of the anterior region of the lower jaw of Teinolophos is now known, along with an isolated upper ultimate premolar. The previously unknown anterior region of the jaw is elongated and delicate as in extant monotremes, but differs in having at least seven antemolar teeth, which are separated by distinctdiastemata. The dental formula of the lower jaw of Teinolophos trusleri as now known is i2 c1 p4 m5. Both the deep lower jaw and the long-rooted upper premolar indicate that Teinolophos, unlike undoubted ornithorhynchids (including the extinct Obdurodon), lacked a bill.

Cheirolepidiaceae leaves and pollen are recorded from Valanginian–Albian strata of southeastern Australia that were deposited at high-latitudes under cool, moist climates in contrast to the semi-arid or coastal habitats preferred by many northern Gondwanan and Laurasian representatives of this group. Leaves of this family are characterized by thick cuticles and cyclocytic stomata with randomly oriented apertures, arranged in scattered or longitudinal rows or bands. Stomata are deeply sunken and surrounded by four to six subsidiary cells that bear one or two ranks of prominent overarching papillae, which may constrict the mouth of the pit. Three new taxa (Otwayia denticulata Tosolini, Cheirolepidiaceae cuticle sp. A and sp. B) are distinguished based on cuticular features, adding to several previously documented cheirolepid conifers in the Early Cretaceous of eastern Australia. Cheirolepidiaceae foliage is preserved predominantly in fluvial floodbasin settings and is interpreted to be derived from small trees occupying disturbed or low-nutrient sites. The foliage is associated with Classopollis/Corollina pollen and roots characterized by prominent mycorrhizal nodules. A Cenomanian Classopollis type recognised from Bathurst Island, Northern Australia, is recorded for the first time from the Early Cretaceous Eumeralla Formation, Otway Basin. Classopollis locally is rare in Valanginian–Barremian strata of Boola Boola, Gippsland, but constitutes up to 14% of the palynomorph assemblage in Albian strata. This indicates that the family was locally abundant in cool southern high-latitude climates of the Mesozoic, contrary to previous reports of its rarity in this region.

Strzelecki Group is the first appeared Mesozoic formation within the Gippsland Basin, as one of the largest Australian oil and gas basins, and mainly consists of interbedded mudstones, sandstones and coal beds. This group plays role of basement in eastern part of the basin, however, it experience uplift to the west that provides spectacular outcrops especially along the coastal area between San Remo and Inverloch. There is still questions exist regarding the present day thickness of this group in west Gippsland area and the amount of erosion during late Cretaceous uplift.