Large vendobiont, Dickinsonia costata, from Late Precambrian Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite in Brachina Gorge, Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Scale is in cm. Many of these enigmatic fossils make too good an impression in deeply buried quartzites to have been soft bodied animals. Could they have been lichens (Retallack, 1994)?

These burrows in a paleosol from the Late Ordovician Juniata Formation in Pennsylvania are similar to those made by burrowing millipedes, and represent the oldest known evidence for animals on land (Retallack and Feakes, 1987). Scale is in cm.

A complete plant of a quillwort, Isoetes beestonii, (Retallack 1997) spread out on a bedding plane in growth position from the earliest Triassic Coalcliff Sandstone in roof shales of Bulli Colliery, near Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Scale is in cm.

Fossil trackway of Dicynodontipus bellambiensis (Retallack 1997) from the earliest Triassic basal Coalcliff Sandstone in Bellambi Colliery near Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. These tracks are very similar to those thought to be made by the therapsid reptile Lystrosaurus (Retallack, 1996).

A reconstruction of leaves and fertile organs of Dicroidium zuberi based on fossils collected from the late Early Triasssic Newport Formation at Turrimetta Head, near Narrabeen, New South Wales, Australia (Retallack, 1977). The frond is about 30 cm long, seed 13 mm and pollen 97 Êm wide).

Although ginkgo-like this small leaf, Chiropteris whitei, (Retallack 1997) is probably not closely related to the modern maidenhair tree of China. This specimen comes from Early Triassic shales bleached by Cenozoic lateritization at Culvida Soak in the Canning Desert of Western Australia. Scale is in cm.

A fossil fern, Lobifolia dejerseyi, (Retallack 1977) from the the Middle Triassic Nymboida Coal Measures in the old open cut near Nymboida, Clarence-Moreton Basin, New South Wales, Australia. Scale is in cm.

The type specimen in the British Museum (Natural History) of a widespread form of Middle Triassic conifer leaf, Heidiphyllum elongatum, (Morris); Retallack 1981. The locality is given as "Jerusalem Basin, Tasmania" and probably refers to the roof shale to a coal seam behind the former Spring Hill Police Station. Scale is in cm.

Petrographic thin section of the partly permineralized thallus of a codiacean alga (Shonabellia verrucosa; Retallack 1981) from the Middle Triassic Black Jacks Conglomerate near Otematata, New Zealand. The light colored zone is the medulla, which has sparser filaments than the greenish cortex. The thallus here is about 6 mm wide.

Type specimen of the early angiosperm fructification, Prisca reynoldsii,(Retallack and Dilcher 1981) from the mid-Cretaceous Dakota Formation in the brick pit of the Kansas Brick and Tile Company south of Hoisington, Kansas. This specimen is on display in the Smithsonian Institution Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. Scale is in mm.

Casts of larval cells of sweat bees Celliforma ficoides, (Retallack 1984) from an early Oligocene Gleska paleosol in the Scenic Member of the Brule Formation in the Pinnacles area of Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Scale in mm.

Sawn slab showing larval cells (round) and connecting burrows (brown) of a fossil nest of a dung beetle, Pallichnus dakotensis, (Retallack 1984) from an early Oligocene Gleska paleosol in the Scenic Member of the Brule Formation in the Pinnacles area of Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Scale in mm. This geotrupine form of dung burrowing is compatible with woodland vegetation and an early stage in the evolution of dung beetle brooding behavior.

A fossil grass, Stereochlaena miocenica (Dugas and Retallack 1993) from nephelinitic grits above the Onuria paleosol in the middle Miocene (14 Ma) Fort Ternan Member of the Kericho Phonolites in Fort Ternan National Monument, southwest Kenya. Scale is in cm. Like other fossil grasses from this bed this one has Zanbezian-Gondwanan affinities, unlike the Eurasian affinities of the modern grass flora of Africa. They also have sparse stomates and common phytoliths of open grasslands.

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Last modified 2/8/98