The taxonomy of selected marine microplankton from the Middle and Upper Jurassic (Callovian–Kimmeridgian) of the North West Shelf, Australia

Abstract

The palynological assemblages of 134 legacy and 212 new palynological preparations from the Callovian–Kimmeridgian of the North West Shelf of Western Australia, were used to identify new species of dinoflagellate cysts with biostratigraphic utility. Samples were derived from cores and sidewall cores from nine wells; four from the Bonaparte Basin, and five from the Northern Carnarvon Basin. This work describes 11 new species of dinoflagellate cyst, one species of acritarch, and emends the descriptions of two genera and five species of dinoflagellate cyst. The new forms include: Batiacasphaera elongata, Cleistosphaeridium? oxfordianum, Egmontodinium twiggii, Evansia? rotundata, Jansonia thormalleus, Lanterna foveolata, Lanterna reticulata, Lanterna spongiosa, Orobodinium tantillum, Oligosphaeridium? varifenestratum, and Sepispinula florida, and the acritarch Triovalium attenuatum. Emendations are proposed for the genera Lanterna and Tringadinium, and the species Broomea fusticula, Egmontodinium toryna, Pyxidiella pandora, Microdinium jurassicum, Jansonia jurassica, and Tringadinium bjaerkei.