Sydney Basin

The fertile glossopterid Senotheca is represented by linear fructifications with broad wings attached to the midribs of Glossopteris leaves. The architecture of the reproductive structures supports their placement within the Dictyopteridiaceae. The genus is emended, the validity of two established species (Senotheca murulidihensis and S. kingii) is confirmed, two new species (Senotheca keiraensis and S. magna) are formally defined and one taxon characterized by an attached leaf with coarse venation is retained under open nomenclature. Senotheca is distributed from northeastern India to eastern Australia and ranges from the (?)Artinskian to Changhsingian but the biostratigraphic utility of the genus is constrained by its rarity. Several other reports of the genus from Antarctica and southeastern Australia remain doubtful.

Anatomically preserved vegetative Glossopteris leaves in silicified peat deposits of Late Permian age are described from the Bowen Basin of Queensland and the Sydney Basin of New South Wales, Australia. Glossopteris homevalensis Pigg et McLoughlin, sp. nov., a distinctive new species from the Fort Cooper Coal Measures, Bowen Basin, is characterized by mesarch vascular bundles with parenchymatous bundle sheaths, a prominent midrib, the occasional presence of secondary vascular tissues, a differentiated mesophyll, an ad- and abaxial hypodermis of isodiametric cuboidal cells with abundant fibers, epidermal cells with sinuous anticlinal margins and simple, slightly sunken stomata. Anatomically preserved leaves similar to G. schopfii Pigg, originally described from the central Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica are also documented from the Bowen and Sydney basins. Those from the Burngrove Formation (Bowen Basin) differ slightly from Antarctic G. schopfii in size, and possess more numerous bundle sheath fibers and sometimes a more pronounced palisade mesophyll. Those from Katoomba (Sydney Basin) are also similar but may differ in some cuticular details. Also occurring in the Katoomba and Burngrove floras are leaves resembling G. skaarensis Pigg, a second species originally described from Antarctica. The presence of G. schopfii and cf. G. skaarensis in Australia as well as in the Transantarctic Mountains demonstrates their widespread distribution in eastern Gondwana. In contrast, the apparent restriction of G. homevalensis to a single locality in the Bowen Basin may reflect a distinct, more local distribution of a floristic assemblage unlike those typical of other Australian and Antarctic floras.

A snapshot survey of a small reserve situated between the adjoining suburbs of Lapstone and Glenbrook in the Lower Blue Mountains, NSW, provided a shortlist of 17 butterflies – which ranked as 50% of the species known to occur in that small area from this and earlier visits. A number of nectar sources are reported for various species, some of which may be newly reported. Notes on behaviour of selected species are given. A discussion of butterfly trapping behavior by the Asclepiad vine Araujia sericifera is given, adding another incident to the list of ill-fated insects reported by others ; those records from Australia are reviewed. Introduction In December 2009 the authors teamed up for some casual bushwalking with the intent of learning a little more about the foraging habits of particular butterflies in the Sydney region. The secondary author, who had earlier published details of butterfly behaviour in the lower Blue Mountains, NSW (Hawkeswood 1980), followed by a species inventory with ecological notes (Hawkeswood 1981), and who is familiar with the local flora, suggested a follow-up survey in the Glenbrook area. This account provides a list of the butterflies seen during our snapshot survey, and records foraging activity at flowers as the focus of the species accounts. All 17 species seen are well known from the Sydney bioregion, an area extending from the Hawkesbury River southward to the Illawarra district, which has been surveyed historically (Nikitin 1964). We had hoped to see the Rock Ringlet, Hypo-cysta euphemia, a rather localised and intriguing satyrine that favours sandstone cliffs and escarp-ments in the Blue Mountains and Sydney Basin, for which no host plants have been identified with certainty. Our search about rocky areas and ledges where adults might be lingering, however, found no evidence of it, and it had not been seen on previous visits by the second author. The species may be present there as a rare event in seasons or years more suited to its range expansion from elsewhere in the broader region. A number of other localised species were seen and we noted too that the rock ledges, which H. euphemia would haunt if resident, served as perch sites and roosting areas for a couple of satyrines during the rising heat of late morning. Nikitin (1964, 1971) recorded 72 species for the Sydney Bioregion across all seasons, and other workers have reported additional species as incidental records over the years since. Our brief survey suggests that the fauna of that Glenbrook-Lapstone reserve may be limited by regional comparison, or at least was during that particular month in 2009. No doubt, across seasons and years – local sampling has not been done in autumn, winter, or spring – many other butterflies would be present regularly or intermittently as larval host plants boom and bust. The spring and early summer of 2009 was not a favourable one for butterflies and adults of various species were in low to moderate numbers, many being worn or aged on that visit.

Sydney Metro is Australia’s largest public transport project, and historical and recent ground data is being collected and used at an unprecedented scale to create robust rock models for the proposed tunnel alignments. Geotechnical investigations target the Triassic Wianamatta Group, Mittagong Formation and Hawkesbury Sandstone of the Sydney Basin. Despite these geological units being well documented, the new knowledge gained during the Sydney Metro projects is enabling a better definition of the Wianamatta Group. In particular, the Rouse Hill Siltstone Member is typically described as a homogenous siltstone unit at the base of the Wianamatta Group. However, this unit often includes a thin “tuff” layer, which is typically ignored in geological models. Data from 70+ historical and recent boreholes across Sydney indicates that, where present, this layer is remarkably uniform across the central Sydney Region and sits horizontally at 3 m above the base of the Rouse Hill Siltstone Member. This marker horizon assisted in identifying vertical offsets in the strata caused by faulting. The characterisation and identification of this layer will greatly improve our understanding of the geology across Sydney and allow efficient targeting of geological structure for future tunnelling projects in these units.

The morphology and taxonomy of several glossopterid reproductive structures, from Late Permian nonmarine strata of eastern Australia, are discussed herein. Plumsteadia jensenii sp. nov. is described from the Black Alley Shale, western Bowen Basin. Plumsteadia microsacca RIGBY, 1963 and five other forms tentatively referred to this genus, are recorded from Late Permian sediments of the western and central Bowen Basin; and Plumsteadia sp. cf. P. ampla (WHITE) RIGBY, 1969 is recorded from coeval sediments of the Sydney Basin. Additionally reported is a single juvenile or degenerate fructification from the Black Alley Shale attached to the midrib of a Glossopteris leaf. The chronological and geographic distribution of Permian Gondwanic fructifications referable to Plumsteadia is tabulated.