DOCSLIB.ORG

More Megafaunal Depictions in Bradshaw Rock Art

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
More Megafaunal Depictions in Bradshaw Rock Art More Megafaunal Depictions in Bradshaw Rock Art: Lee Scott-Virtue1, Jack Pettigrew2, Dean Goodgame1 1Kimberley Specialists, Nicholson Station, Kununurra 6743, Australia, [email protected] 2Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland 4072, Australia, [email protected] The fine brush strokes, veridical representations and longevity of Bradshaw rock art can enable a positive identification of a depicted extinct mammal (e.g. the stripe-faced flying fox. Pettigrew et al 2008). In this report, we present a clear example of Palorchestes, the “marsupial tapir”, from the extinct Australian megafauna, depicted in Bradshaw rock art from the NW Kimberley of Australia (Fig. 1). Two depictions were found on sheltered rock walls in the Wade Creek formation (14.394 S.128.291 E), 30 m from other Bradshaw art with the same colour of biofilm that suggested the same artist, but not close enough that we could be sure that the animal depiction came from the same Bradshaw style as the figures. A number of features were diagnostic for Palorchestes, whose skeletons are well known and reconstructed by paleontologists (Long et al 2002): (Fig. 2). 1. Massive recurved talons on both forelimbs and hindlimbs; (thought to be browsing aids, perhaps for bark).: 2. Enlargement of the snout for browsing, with a widened mandibular symphysis to accommodate a large tongue (like a giraffe); (this inference from the fossils is here confirmed by the strangely enlarged snout, depicted from life by the artist (Fig. 2; 1); 3. Small, erect, dorsally-placed ears: 4. Massive size, shown by the depiction’s stout limbs; (guided by allometry from large extant mammals (Alexander and Pond 1992), their diameters roughly predict a massive overall size (0.4 – 1 t) despite the small scale of the depiction). Fig. 1: Bradshaw Depiction of Palorchestes: Estimated extinction 46.5 ka. Scale bar = 1 cm A favored dating technique is radiocarbon dating, but is subject to contamination by more recent organic material such as fungi and microrganisms growing on the sample, or organic debris that has been washed into cracks in the bone as it has lain waiting for the archeologist over the millennia. Roberts et al (2001) used both optical dating methods and U/Th series and addressed the problem of contamination by drilling into the teeth of the extinct megafanua. A sample of Palorchestes studied in this way was excavated in Victoria, Australia, and had a date of 60 Ka. This was an earlier, smaller species from the genus, perhaps suggesting a later age for our depicted species in view of its apparently large size. We therefore suggest an age of 46.5 Ka to deal with this possibility because there are different megafaunal species, including Palorchestes, in the study by Roberts et al (2001) that all have the same precise date at 46.5 Ka, indicating a high degree of synchrony of the extinction. Recent work provides independent confirmation of this synchrony from studies on the aridification of the central Australian mega-Frome and Lake Eyre systems, which dried up at this time (Cohen et al. 2012). There are thus a number of independent confirmations of the minimal age of our Palorchestes depiction, which contrasts with some uncertainty over another Pleistocene megafauna depiction, of Thylacoleo, whose identity and age are both under question because of possible confusion with Thylacinus and an unsubstantiated speculation that tropical Thylacoleo survived beyond the major megafaunal extinction (Akerman 2009, Akerman and Willing 2009). Two previous reports of Aboriginal rock art depictions of Palorchestes from Arnhemland (e.g. Murray and Chaloupka (1984)) propose a similar age to our estimate. Although both of these incomplete depictions are contentious, (e.g. because of loss of ochre), a notable feature of one Arnhemland Palorchestes depiction is a large, striated, protrusible tongue, in line both with reconstructions of the split fossil mandible and with the modified snout in our depiction. The clarity and completeness of the fine brush strokes and durable biofilm of the Bradshaw technique (Pettigrew et al 2010) is an advance on these less complete, worn, depictions in ochre because it has enabled all of the unique four distinguishing features of Palorchestes to be displayed in the same work of art. a Fig. 2: Tracings and reconstructions of Palrchestes azael alongside the Bradshaw depiction. Note the robust limbs, which enable a very approximate estimate of mass using allometric equations developed for other large mammals. Characteristic Palorchestes features include very powerful claws, especially on the forelimbs (c1), large, specialized snout (hence “marsupial tapir”) (c2), erect, dorsally-located ears (c3), massive size, around 400-1000 Kg (c4): b): Reconstruction of one of the earlier, smaller palorchestids, probably Palorchestes painei, excavated in Victoria and dated accurately by Roberts et al at 60 Ka.. c). Reconstruction of Queensland Palorchestes azael, the largest known palorchestid as well as the most recent, with a late Pleistocene extinction at 46.5 Ka based on aridification of mega-lakes and the synchronous age of teeth from manyother megafauna. References: Akerman, K. & Willing, T. 2009. An ancient rock painting of a marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex, from the Kimberley, Western Australia Antiquity 083 Issue 319 March 2009 Akerman, K., 2009. Interaction between humans and megafauna depicted in Australianrock art? Antiquity 83 (322). http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/akerman322/. Alexander, R.McN.; Pond, C.M., 1992. Locomotion and bone strength of the white rhinoceros Ceratotherium simum. Journal of Zoology, London 227: 63-69, fig. 1, tables Cohen TJ et al 2012 Late Quaternary mega-lakes fed by the northern and southern river systems of central Australia: Varying moisture sources and increased continental aridity. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 356–357:89–108 Long, J., Archer, M., Flannery, T., and Hand, S. J. (2002) Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. Kensington: University of New South Wales. (pg 100) Murray, P. & Chaloupka G. 1984. The Dreamtime animals: extinct megafauna in Arnhemland rock art. Archaeology in Oceania 19: 105-16.1-3 Pettigrew JD, Nugent M, McPhee A,Wallman J, (2008) An Unexpected, Stripe-faced Flying Fox in Ice Age Rock Art of Australia’s Kimberley. Antiquity 82: 318 Pettigrew JD. Iconography in Bradshaw rock art: Breaking the circularity (2010). Clinical and Experimental Optometry 88: 39-45 Pettigrew JD, Callistemon C, Weiler A, Gorbushina A, Krumbein W & Weiler R (2010) Living Pigments in Australian Bradshaw Rock Art. Antiquity 84: 326 Pike AWG et al. 2012. U-Series Dating of Paleolithic Art in 11 Caves in Spain. Science 336: (6087) 1409-1413 Roberts RG et al 2001 New Ages for the Last Australian Megafauna: Continent-Wide Extinction About 46,000 Years Ago. Science 292: 1888-1892 Acknowledgements: This work was supported by Kimberley Specialists, Kununurra, WA and by the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Institute for Advanced Study (HWK), Delmenhorst, Germany. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for a New Family of Diprotodontian Marsupials from the Latest Oligocene of Australia and the Evolution
    Title A new family of diprotodontian marsupials from the latest Oligocene of Australia and the evolution of wombats, koalas, and their relatives (Vombatiformes) Authors Beck, RMD; Louys, J; Brewer, Philippa; Archer, M; Black, KH; Tedford, RH Date Submitted 2020-10-13 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION FOR A new family of diprotodontian marsupials from the latest Oligocene of Australia and the evolution of wombats, koalas, and their relatives (Vombatiformes) Robin M. D. Beck1,2*, Julien Louys3, Philippa Brewer4, Michael Archer2, Karen H. Black2, Richard H. Tedford5 (deceased) 1Ecosystems and Environment Research Centre, School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Manchester, UK 2PANGEA Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 3Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia 4Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom 5Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to R.M.D.B (email: [email protected]) This pdf includes: Supplementary figures Supplementary tables Comparative material Full description Relevance of Marada arcanum List of morphological characters Morphological matrix in NEXUS format Justification for body mass estimates References Figure S1. Rostrum of holotype and only known specimen of Mukupirna nambensis gen. et. sp. nov. (AMNH FM 102646) in ventromedial (a) and anteroventral (b) views. Abbreviations: C1a, upper canine alveolus; I1a, first upper incisor alveolus; I2a, second upper incisor alveolus; I1a, third upper incisor alveolus; P3, third upper premolar. Scale bar = 1 cm.
    [Show full text]
  • Hdl 128344.Pdf
    PUBLISHED VERSION Elizabeth Reed The contribution of cave sites to the understanding of Quaternary Australian megafauna records Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Speleology, Volume 1 Edition 2, 2017 / Moore, K., White, S. (ed./s), vol.1, pp.2 © 2017 Australian Speleological Federation Inc, This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike International License (CC-BY-SA). To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Individual Authors retain copyright over their work, while allowing the conference to place this unpublished work under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike which allows others to freely access, use, and share the work, with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and its initial presentation at the 17th International Congress of Speleology, Sydney NSW Australia.. Published version https://www.caves.org.au/resources/category/37-conference- proceedings?start=40 PERMISSIONS http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 6 October 2020 http://hdl.handle.net/2440/128344 Te Contribution of Cave Sites to the Understanding of Quaternary Australian Megafauna Records. Elizabeth Reed1,2 Afliation: 1Environment Institute and School of Physical Sciences, Te University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, AUSTRALIA. 2Palaeontology department, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia. Abstract Since the frst discoveries of megafauna fossils in the Wellington Valley of New South Wales in the 1830s, caves have featured prominently in the study of Quaternary Australia. Today, most of the well-dated, strati- fed Quaternary megafauna sites are known from caves. Tis refects the relatively stable preservation environment within Australian caves, where skeletal remains may lay undisturbed for hundreds of thousands of years.
    [Show full text]
  • Megafauna Extinction
    Episode 15 Teacher Resource 2nd June 2020 Megafauna Extinction 1. Before watching the BTN story, record what you know about Students will learn more about Australian megafauna and megafauna. investigate why they became 2. What is megafauna? extinct. 3. About how many years ago did megafauna exist in Australia? a. 4,000 b. 40,000 c. 400,000 Science – Year 6 The growth and survival of living 4. Complete the following sentence. A Diprotodon was a giant things are affected by physical _________________. conditions of their environment. 5. What did palaeontologist Dr Scott Hocknull and his team discover? Science – Year 7 6. Where did they make the discovery? Scientific knowledge has changed peoples’ understanding of the 7. What did they use to create images of what the megafauna might world and is refined as new have looked like? evidence becomes available. 8. Give some examples of the megafauna species they discovered. Interactions between organisms, 9. What might have caused megafauna to become extinct? including the effects of human 10. What did you learn watching the BTN story? activities can be represented by food chains and food webs. What do you know about megafauna? As a class discuss the BTN Megafauna Extinction story and ask students to record what they learnt watching the story. Record any questions they have. Here are some questions they can use to help guide their discussion. • What does the term megafauna mean? • When did megafauna exist? • How do we know they existed? • Why did megafauna grow so big? • What might have caused Australia’s megafauna to die out? Glossary Students will brainstorm a list of key words and terms that relate to the BTN Megafauna Extinction story.
    [Show full text]
  • Megafauna Fossils
    Episode 20 Teacher Resource 1st August 2017 Megafauna Fossils Students will develop a deeper 1. What does the BTN story explain? understanding of Australian megafauna and fossils 2. On which island were fossils found recently? 3. What is the name of someone who studies fossils? a. Ecologist b. Biologist c. Palaeontologist 4. Explain what scientists found on the island. Science – Year 6 5. Name three facts you learnt about the Tasmanian Tiger. The growth and survival of living 6. What does Aaron say about the possibility of the thylacine being alive things are affected by physical conditions of their today? environment (ACSSU094) 7. Describe what a diprotodon looks like. 8. What can the footprints found on Kangaroo Island tell us? Science – Year 7 9. Illustrate an aspect of the story? Scientific knowledge has changed peoples’ understanding of the world 10. What did you like about the Fossil Footprints story? and is refined as new evidence becomes available (ACSHE119) Interactions between organisms, including the effects of human activities can be represented by food chains and food Negotiate with students how many activities they will need to complete. webs(ACSSU112) • Students develop a glossary of words and terms that relate to fossils and megafauna. Below are some words to get them started. Add words and meanings to your glossary as you come across unfamiliar words throughout your research. Consider using pictures and diagrams to illustrate meanings. extinct fossil megafauna palaeontologist thylacine diprotodon • What do you THINK about what you saw in the Megafauna Fossils story? What does this video make you WONDER? o Think of three questions you have about the BTN Megafauna Fossils story.
    [Show full text]
  • Marsupial Lions & Methodological Omnivory
    Marsupial Lions & Methodological Omnivory: Function, Success and Reconstruction in Paleobiology Penultimate Version, published in Biology & Philosophy Abstract Historical scientists frequently face incomplete data, and lack direct experimental access to their targets. This has led some philosophers and scientists to be pessimistic about the epistemic potential of the historical sciences. And yet, historical science often produces plausible, sophisticated hypotheses. I explain this capacity to generate knowledge in the face of apparent evidential scarcity by examining recent work on Thylacoleo carnifex, the ‘marsupial lion’. Here, we see two important methodological features. First, historical scientists are methodological omnivores, that is, they construct purpose-built epistemic tools tailored to generate evidence about highly specific targets. This allows them to produce multiple streams of independent evidence and thus maximize their epistemic reach. Second, investigative scaffolding: research proceeds in a piece-meal fashion, information only gaining evidential relevance once certain hypotheses are well supported. I illustrate scaffolding in a discussion of the nature of functional ascription in paleobiology. Frequently, different senses of ‘function’ are not discriminated during paleobiological investigation—something which can mar adaptationist investigations of extant organisms. However, I argue that, due to scaffolding, conflating senses of ‘function’ can be the right thing to do. Coarse grained functional hypotheses are required before it is clear what evidence could discriminate between more fine-grained ones. I draw on omnivory and scaffolding to argue that pessimists make a bad empirical bet. It is a bad idea to bet against the epistemic fortunes of such opportunistic and resourceful scientists, especially when we have reason to think we will systematically underestimate the amount of evidence ultimately available to them.
    [Show full text]
  • THYLACOLEO CARNIFEX and the NARACOORTE CAVES Michael Curry, Liz Reed1,2 and Steve Bourne3
    RESEARCH CATCHING the MARSUPIAL ‘LION’ by the TAIL: THYLACOLEO CARNIFEX and the NARACOORTE CAVES Michael Curry, Liz Reed1,2 and Steve Bourne3 1School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia; 2School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, Australia; 3Naracoorte Lucindale Council, Naracoorte, SA, Australia. “Thylacoleo exemplifies the simplest and most effective dental machinery for predatory life and carnivorous diet known in the Mammalian class. It is the extreme modification, to this end, of the Diprotodont type of Marsupialia.” Owen (1866) Introduction defending Thylacoleo as “A very gentle beast, and of good conscience” (Macleay 1859). Macleay based his Of all the extinct Australian Pleistocene megafauna argument on Thylacoleo’s relationship with other species, Thylacoleo carnifex (the marsupial ‘lion’) has Diprotodont marsupials, most of which are herbivores. captured the imagination and interest of people more Gerard Krefft, Curator of the Australian Museum, was than any other. Perhaps it is the allure of its predatory almost equally as unimpressed with Thylacoleo’s habits, (Australia’s Pleistocene answer to T. rex); or the carnivory, opining that it “…was not much more intriguing notion that it used caves as dens (Lundelius, carnivorous than the Phalangers (possums) of present 1966 ). It is certainly an enigma and, as Owen (1866) time.” (Krefft, 1866). Owen, meanwhile, had received an suggested, an extreme and meat-eating version of the almost complete skull from the Darling Downs, in otherwise herbivorous diprotodont marsupials. Queensland and published a more detailed paper, Spectacular fossil finds over the past few decades have further describing the skull and teeth of Thylacoleo, put to rest much of the speculation regarding its habits acknowledging its diprotodont affiliation but more and morphology.
    [Show full text]
  • Australia's Lost Giants
    Reading Australia’s Lost Giants What happened to Australia’s megafauna, the giant animals that once existed across this enormous continent? A In 1969, a fossil hunter named Rod Wells came to Naracoorte in South Australia to explore what was then known as Victoria Cave. Wells clawed through narrow passages, and eventually into a huge chamber. Its floor of red soil was littered with strange objects. It took Wells a moment to realize what he was looking at; the bones of thousands of creatures that must have fallen through holes in the ground above and become trapped. Some of the oldest belonged to mammals far larger than any found today in Australia. They were the ancient Australian megafauna – huge animals of the Pleistocene epoch. In boneyards across the continent, scientists have found the fossils of a giant snake, a huge flightless bird, and a seven foot kangaroo, to name but a few. Given how much ink has been spilled on the extinction of the dinosaurs, it’s a wonder that even more hasn’t been devoted to megafauna. Prehistoric humans never threw spears at Tyrannosaurus rex but really did hunt mammoths and mastodons. B The disappearance of megafauna in America – mammoths, saber-toothed cats, giant sloths, among others – happened relatively soon after the arrival of human beings, about 13,000 years ago. In the 1960s, paleoecologist Paul Martin developed what became known as the blitzkrieg hypothesis. Modern humans, Martin said, created havoc as they spread through the Americas, wielding spears to annihilate animals that had never faced a technological predator.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Family of Diprotodontian Marsupials from the Latest Oligocene of Australia and the Evolution of Wombats, Koalas, and Their Relatives (Vombatiformes) Robin M
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN A new family of diprotodontian marsupials from the latest Oligocene of Australia and the evolution of wombats, koalas, and their relatives (Vombatiformes) Robin M. D. Beck1,2 ✉ , Julien Louys3, Philippa Brewer4, Michael Archer2, Karen H. Black2 & Richard H. Tedford5,6 We describe the partial cranium and skeleton of a new diprotodontian marsupial from the late Oligocene (~26–25 Ma) Namba Formation of South Australia. This is one of the oldest Australian marsupial fossils known from an associated skeleton and it reveals previously unsuspected morphological diversity within Vombatiformes, the clade that includes wombats (Vombatidae), koalas (Phascolarctidae) and several extinct families. Several aspects of the skull and teeth of the new taxon, which we refer to a new family, are intermediate between members of the fossil family Wynyardiidae and wombats. Its postcranial skeleton exhibits features associated with scratch-digging, but it is unlikely to have been a true burrower. Body mass estimates based on postcranial dimensions range between 143 and 171 kg, suggesting that it was ~5 times larger than living wombats. Phylogenetic analysis based on 79 craniodental and 20 postcranial characters places the new taxon as sister to vombatids, with which it forms the superfamily Vombatoidea as defned here. It suggests that the highly derived vombatids evolved from wynyardiid-like ancestors, and that scratch-digging adaptations evolved in vombatoids prior to the appearance of the ever-growing (hypselodont) molars that are a characteristic feature of all post-Miocene vombatids. Ancestral state reconstructions on our preferred phylogeny suggest that bunolophodont molars are plesiomorphic for vombatiforms, with full lophodonty (characteristic of diprotodontoids) evolving from a selenodont morphology that was retained by phascolarctids and ilariids, and wynyardiids and vombatoids retaining an intermediate selenolophodont condition.
    [Show full text]
  • Memoirs of the Queensland Museum | Nature 63
    Memoirs of the Queensland Museum | Nature 63 Queensland Museum Network respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, seas and regions across the state of Queensland. © The State of Queensland, Queensland Museum 2021 PO Box 3300, South Brisbane 4101, Australia Phone 06 7 3840 7555 Fax 06 7 3846 1226 Email [email protected] Website www.qm.qld.gov.au National Library of Australia card number ISSN 0079-8835 Print ISSN 2204-1478 Online NOTE Papers published in this volume and in all previous volumes of the Memoirs of the Queensland Museum may be reproduced for scientific research, individual study or other educational purposes. Properly acknowledged quotations may be made but queries regarding the republication of any papers should be addressed to the Editor in Chief. Copies of the journal can be purchased from the Queensland Museum Shop. A Guide to Authors is displayed at the Queensland Museum web site www.qm.qld.gov.au A Queensland Government Project Typeset at the Queensland Museum The vertebrate fossil collection record from the Chinchilla Sand, South-East Queensland, 1844–2021 Joanne E. WILKINSON1, Kristen A. SPRING1, Tim L. DUNN2, Gilbert J. PRICE3 & Julien LOUYS4. 1. Queensland Museum Geosciences, 122 Gerler Road, Hendra Queensland 4011 Australia; 2. Samford Valley Steiner School, Narrawa Court, Wights Mountain Qld 4520; 3. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane Qld 4072; 4. Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Nathan Qld 4111. Corresponding author: [email protected] https://doi.org/10.17082/j.2204-1478.63.2021.2020-07 LCID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F09758D3-76A1-4D8B-B90D-371C5A8CE4B9 Citation: Wilkinson, J.E., Spring, K.A., Dunn, T.
    [Show full text]
  • Taphonomy of Oligo-Miocene Fossil Sites of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia
    AMEGHINIANA (Rev. Asoc. Paleontol. Argent.) - 41 (4): 627-640. Buenos Aires, 30-12-2004 ISSN 0002-7014 Taphonomy of Oligo-Miocene fossil sites of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia Mina BASSAROVA1 Abstract. Taphonomic analyses were carried out on six sites from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area fossil deposits of northwestern Queensland, Australia. The six sites range in age from late Oligocene to late Miocene and possibly younger. A diverse fossil fauna has been found at these sites, but in this study, only mammalian remains were considered. The aim was to assess the biological and ecological informa- tion obtainable from these sites in anticipation of a palaeoecological study of the sites. To determine if fos- sils from each site were locally derived, specimens were examined for abrasion, breakage, weathering, ev- idence of digestion or scavenging, and skeletal part representation. Age-class distribution analysis of sev- eral peramelemorphians and a subfamily of macropodids was carried out for one of the sites to determine if the mortality profile might be attritional or catastrophic. Vertebrate remains from the six sites are dis- articulated and, in combination with the lack of bone weathering, this suggests rapid burial in moist con- ditions. The majority of specimens are unweathered, unabraded, have a wide range of transport poten- tials and, at this stage, are not suspected to have significant predator/scavenger biases. These sites are therefore interpreted to be autochthonous assemblages. The age-class distribution analysis indicates attri- tional accumulation, however exact duration of accumulation can not be ascertained. Resumen. TAFONOMÍA DE LOS SITIOS FÓSILES DEL ÁREA DE RIVERSLEIGH WORLD HERITAGE (OLIGOCENO- MIOCENO), AUSTRALIA.
    [Show full text]
  • Systematic and Palaeobiological Implications of Postcranial Morphology in the Diprotodontidae (Marsupialia)
    Systematic and palaeobiological implications of postcranial morphology in the Diprotodontidae (Marsupialia) Aaron B. Camens School of Earth and Environmental Sciences Discipline of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology The University of Adelaide South Australia A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Adelaide February 2010 II Declaration This work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution to Aaron Camens and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to this copy of my thesis when deposited in the University Library, being made available for loan and photocopying, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. The author acknowledges that copyright of published works contained within this thesis (as listed below) resides with the copyright holder(s) of those works. I also give permission for the digital version of my thesis to be made available on the web, via the University’s digital research repository, the Library catalogue, the Australasian Digital Theses Program (ADTP) and also through web search engines, unless permission has been granted by the University to restrict access for a period of time. Publications in this thesis include: Camens, A. B. and Wells, R.T. 2009. Diprotodontid footprints from the Pliocene of Central Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29: 863-869. Copyright held by Taylor and Francis. Camens, A. B. and Wells, R.T.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Full Article 1.5MB .Pdf File
    https://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.1973.34.03 9 May 1973 FOSSIL VERTEBRATE FAUNAS FROM THE LAKE VICTORIA REGION, S.W. NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA By Larry G. Marshall Zoology Department, Monash University, Victoria* Abstract Fossil vertebrate localities and faunas in the Lake Victoria region of S.W. New South Wales, Australia, are described. The oldest fossil bearing deposit, the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene Moorna Formation and associated Chowilla Sand have yielded specimens of Neoceratodus sp., Emydura macquarrii, several species of small dasyurid, specimens of Glaucodon cf. G. ballaratensis, a species of Protemnodon which compares closely with P. cf. P. otibandus from the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene Chinchilla Sand in SE. Queensland, specimens of Lagostrophus cf L. fasciatus, species of Petrogale, Macropus, Osphranter, Sthenurus, Bettongia, Diprotodon, Lasiorhinus, a peramelid, at least two species of pseudomyine rodents and a species of Rattus cf. R. lutreolus. It is shown that the holotype of Zygomaturus victoriae (Owen) 1872 may have been collected from these sediments. The late Pliocene or early Pleistocene Blanchetown Clay has yielded species of Neoceratodus, Thylacoleo, Phas- colonus, Bettongia, Sthenurus, a diprotodontid, and a rodent. The late Pleistocene Rufus Formation has yielded species of Dasycercus, Sarcophilus, Thylacinus, Phascolonus, Lasiorhinus, Bettongia, Procoptodon, Onychogalea, Macropus, and Leporillus. A large species of macropod and a species of Phascolonus were collected from the late Pleistocene Monoman Formation. The lunette on the E. side of Lake Victoria has yielded a large, diverse fauna of late Pleistocene —Holocene age, that includes such extinct species as Protemnodon anak, P. brehus, Procoptodon goliah, Sthenurus andersoni, S.
    [Show full text]