Aspects of the palynology of the Middle-Upper Triassic Mungaroo Formation, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia, and re-evaluations of two cosmopolitan genera

Enhanced knowledge of facies-controlled terrestrial taxa is critical to improving biostratigraphic resolution in the Triassic due to its relative lack of marine sediments. Late Triassic palynofacies and palynofloral assemblages obtained from the fluvio-deltaic Mungaroo Formation of the Northern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia, were documented and characterised, resulting in improved understanding of their depositional settings, and enabling broad paleoenvironmental, paleobotanical and paleobiogeographic inferences to be made. Camerosporites, Enzonalasporites and related taxa were comprehensively re-evaluated based on new ultrastructural and morphological data. These biostratigraphically-useful early conifers thrived in the Carnian but were less suited to the dryer conditions of the latest Triassic.