Quaternary plant macrofossils from Robertson Cave, Naracoorte, South Australia: reproductive structures

Abstract

The World Heritage Naracoorte Caves in southeastern South Australia are important palaeontological sites known primarily for their diverse vertebrate fossils. Some of the caves also contain well-pre- served Quaternary plant macrofossils, but little palaeobotanical research has been undertaken to date. Here, we describe the angiosperm plant taxa represented by macrofossils of reproductive struc- tures that have been extracted from the Robertson Cave sediment deposit; this has an age range of 820–24,230 years BP. We identified 29 angiosperm taxa representing 20 families. These represent some of the plant species that grew in the Naracoorte region during the Quaternary, and form a database for future plant identification and palaeovegetation reconstructions.