INTRODUCTION

The Witte Nunataks and Hauberg Mountains Formations of Bajocian - Tithonian age comprise two of the five formations of the Latady Group (Hunter 2003; Cantrill and Hunter 2005; Willan and Hunter 2005), and are exposed in the Antarctic Peninsula. They contain faunas dominated by bivalves but also include ammonites, brachiopods, crinoids, polychaete worm tubes, gastropods, rare fish, crustaceans, and belemnites (Stevens 1967; Quilty 1970, 1972a, 1972b, 1978, 1983, 1988; Thomson 1980, 1983; Crame 1982, 1983; Mutterlose 1986; Kelly 1995; Eagle and Hikuroa 2003; Hikuroa 2005; Hikuroa and Kaim 2007). Recent fieldwork in Ellsworth Land and the Orville Coast (Figure 1) by Hikuroa during the summer field season of 1999/2000 yielded a new collection of fossil material, of which the belemnites comprised a minor part.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the new belemnite material, compare it with previously studied specimens (particularly those of Mutterlose 1986), and consider its biostratigraphic and paleobiogeographic implications. In addition, latex casts of undescribed belemnites collected from the Orville Coast during the 1965-66 field season by Dr. P. Quilty, have been included in the present study. More than 100 specimens are recorded herein from 27 localities in the Behrendt and Hauberg Mountains (Figure 1, Figure 2).