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Download Full Article 1.0MB .Pdf File Memoirs of Museum Victoria 74: 209–232 (2016) Published 2016 ISSN 1447-2546 (Print) 1447-2554 (On-line) http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/books-and-journals/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/ Palaeoecology of Oligo-Miocene macropodoids determined from craniodental and calcaneal data CHRISTINE M. JANIS1,2,*, JOHN DAMUTH3, KENNY J. TRAVOUILLON4,5, BORJA FIGUEIRIDO6, SUZANNE J. HAND7, AND MICHAEL ARCHER7 1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA (christine_janis@ Brown.edu) 2 School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK 3 Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA ([email protected]) 4 School of Earth Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia ([email protected]) 5 Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, WA 6986, Australia (Kenny.Travouillon@museum. wa.gov.au) (current address) 6 Departmento Ecología y Geología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071-Málaga, Spain (Borja. [email protected]) 7 PANGEA Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, New South Wales 2052, Australia ([email protected], [email protected]) * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Janis, C.M. , Damuth, J., Travouillon, K.J., Figueirido, B., Hand, S.J., and Archer, M. 2016. Palaeoecology of Oligo- Miocene macropodoids determined from craniodental and calcaneal data. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 74: 209–232. Analyses of craniodental and calcaneal material of extant macropodoids show that both dietary and locomotor types are statistically distinguishable. Application of the craniodental data to fossil macropodoids from the Oligo-Miocene of South Australia (Lake Eyre Basin) and Queensland (Riversleigh World Heritage Area) shows that these taxa were primarily omnivores or browsers. Specialized folivorous browsers were more prevalent in the Queensland deposits than in those of South Australia, suggesting more mesic conditions in the former. The calcaneal data showed that the Oligo- Miocene taxa clustered with extant generalized hoppers, in contrast to prior speculation that balbarids were quadrupedal rather than bipedal. Keywords Macropodoidea, palaeocology, Riversleigh, Lake Eyre Basin, craniodental measurements, dietary behaviour, calcaneal measurements, locomotion. Introduction The Oligo-Miocene macropodoids were small to medium- sized animals, generally ranging in size from forms about the The Macropodoidea (kangaroos and rat-kangaroos) first size of a modern-day bettong (Bettongia spp., mass 0.5–2.5 radiated in the late Oligocene to early Miocene. The Oligo- Miocene record of these marsupials is primarily from the kg) to a pademelon (Thylogale spp., mass 4–12 kg). The largest deposits in Queensland (Riversleigh World Heritage Area) and one considered here, Rhizosthenurus flanneryi from the early- South Australia (Lake Eyre Basin) and the Northern Territory. late Miocene Encore Local Fauna, was about the size of a The total age range of these fossil deposits range from around Red-necked Wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus, mass 11–30 kg). 25 Ma to 7 Ma (Black et al., 2012). The relative abundance of In contrast, the extant large kangaroos, such as the Eastern macropodoids in the late Oligocene localities suggests that Grey and Red Kangaroos (Macropus giganteus and M. rufus), they may have had origins earlier in the Palaeogene, with the weigh between 35 and 80 kilograms. The Oligo-Miocene molecular data suggesting the Eocene (e.g., Meredith et al., macropodoids mainly had thin-enamelled brachydont (low- 2008), but they are absent from the possibly earlier Oligocene crowned) dentitions and no evidence of the molar progression locality, the Pwerte Marnte Marnte local fauna in the Northern seen in many extant kangaroos (primarily species of Territory (Murray and Megirian, 2006), as well as from the Macropus). These taxa have thus been considered to be forest- Eocene Tingamara deposit in south-eastern Queensland dwelling browsers or omnivores, especially in the Riversleigh (Black et al., 2012). deposits, where habitats have been interpreted to include cool 210 C.M. Janis, J. Damuth, K.J. Travouillon, B. Figueirido, S.J. Hand & M. Archer temperate rainforests, at least during the early and middle more faunivorous forms, such as Ekaltadeta ima. The earliest Miocene (Archer et al., 1989, 1997, 2006; Travouillon et al., known hypsiprymnodontid is from the early Miocene 2009). The limited postcranial material available for these (Riversleigh Faunal Zone B) (Bates et al., 2014). The extant macropodoids has led to speculation that some of them (e.g., Musky Rat-kangaroo is omnivorous/frugivorous (Dennis, the balbarid Nambaroo, see Kear et al., 2007) were not 2002, 2003), with relatively long forelimbs and short hoppers, but instead were quadrupedal bounders, like the hindlimbs, and is the only extant macropodoid that is a extant Musky Rat-kangaroo (Hypsiprymnodon moschatus). quadrupedal bounder rather than a hopper (Windsor and This paper attempts to make a more quantitative Dagg, 1971). This form of locomotion is thought to represent determination of the palaeoecology of these extinct the primitive condition for macropodoids. Dental material macropodoids by comparing their morphology with that of (maxillae and dentaries) of extinct hypsiprymnodontids extant macropodoids whose behaviours are known. Specifically suggests a similar diet to that of the living species (Bates et al., we examine craniodental morphology in relation to dietary 2014). We did not include any extinct hypsiprymnodontids in behaviour, and calcaneal morphology in relation to locomotor this study because our interest was in the more herbivorous behaviour (the calcaneum has been shown to be an extremely taxa, and how they reflected Australian habitats. informative bone in assessing marsupial locomotor habits: 2. The Balbaridae, an extinct group of kangaroos, has been Bassarova et al., 2009). We use the craniodental data to sometimes considered to be more primitive than all other investigate two issues in palaeoecology: first we investigate macropodoids, and is either the sister taxon to the whether there were dietary differences in the animals, indicative Hypsiprymnodontidae, or the Macropodidae (see Kear and of environmental differences, between the late Oligocene and Cooke, 2001). The earliest known balbarids are from the late early Miocene macropodoids from South Australia and Oligocene (Etadunna Formation, Zone C [Woodburne et al., Queensland; and secondly we investigate whether, over the 1994]; Riversleigh Faunal Zone A [Cooke, 1997b; Archer et Oligo-Miocene time span in each region, there were changes in al., 2006; Travouillon et al., 2006, 2011]), while the youngest the dietary behaviours that reflect environmental changes. We one is from the late middle or early late Miocene Encore Site, also use the calcaneal data to investigate the issue of the range also from Riversleigh (K. J. T. pers. observ.). Balbarids (e.g., of locomotor behaviours of these macropodoids, specifically to species of Balbaroo and Nambaroo) paralleled macropodines see if there was a prevalence of non-hopping-adapted forms. in their possession of distinctly bilophodont molars (a derived condition), but retained more primitive postcrania (especially Materials And Methods retention of the hallux). The argument has been presented that balbarids, like H. moschatus, did not hop (e.g., Kear et al., Taxa included. For the craniodental data our reference group 2007; Black et al., 2014). Sixteen individuals (representing five of extant macropodoids included 42 individuals (representing genera and up to 13 species) are included in the craniodental 42 species: including Hypsiprymnodon moschatus, five data, and six individuals (representing two genera and up to potoroines, and at least one representative of every extant six species) are included in the calcaneal data. macropodine genus: see appendix table A1). These individuals 3. The Macropodidae (kangaroos and most rat-kangaroos), were drawn from a much larger dataset, but we were limited are represented today by three subfamilies: Potoroinae (rat- for this analysis to those specimens with a completely erupted kangaroos, excluding H. moschatus); Lagostrophinae (the but relatively unworn dentition (at least an unworn last molar), Banded Hare-wallaby, Lagostrophus fasciatus); and as explained below. For the calcaneal data our reference group Macropodinae (kangaroos and wallabies, including tree- of extant macropodoids included 44 individuals (representing kangaroos). Macropodids comprise 14 extant genera and 33 species: including Hypsiprymnodon moschatus, seven several extinct ones. They were represented in the Oligo- potoroines, and at least one representative of every extant Miocene by one extant subfamily (the Potoroinae) and two macropodine genus: see appendix table A3). For these data, extinct subfamilies, the Bulungamayinae and the Sthenurinae. we were limited to specimens for which a disarticulated The Potoroinae, represented today by three extant genera calcaneum was available. and one recently extinct one, are regarded here as the most Three families of macropodoids are represented in Oligo- basal macropodid subfamily (e.g., Prideaux and Warburton, Miocene assemblages in Australia (systematics following that 2010), but some authors place them
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