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The thylacine, also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, is an extinct carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. The thylacine died out in New Guinea and mainland Australia around 3,600–3,200 years ago, prior to the arrival of Europeans, possibly because of the introduction of the dingo, whose earliest record dates to around the same time, but which never reached Tasmania. Prior to European settlement, around 5,000 remained in the wild on Tasmania. Beginning in the nineteenth century, they were perceived as a threat to the livestock of farmers and bounty hunting was introduced. The last known of its species died in 1936 at Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. The thylacine is widespread in popular culture and is a cultural icon in Australia.
Obdurodon is a genus of extinct platypus-like Australian monotreme which lived from the Late Oligocene to the Late Miocene. Three species have been described in the genus, the type species Obdurodon insignis, plus Obdurodon dicksoni and Obdurodon tharalkooschild. The species appeared much like their modern day relative the platypus, except adults retained their molar teeth, and unlike the platypus, which forages on the lakebed, they may have foraged in the water column or surface.
Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae family, are two species of highly specialized marsupial mammals that are found in the Australian interior. They are small fossorial marsupials that anatomically converge on fossorial placental mammals, such as extant golden moles (Chrysochloridae) and extinct epoicotheres (Pholidota). The species are:
The order Peramelemorphia includes the bandicoots and bilbies. All members of the order are endemic to Australia-New Guinea and most have the characteristic bandicoot shape: a plump, arch-backed body with a long, delicately tapering snout, very large upright ears, relatively long, thin legs, and a thin tail. Their size varies from about 140 grams up to 4 kilograms, but most species are about one kilogram.
Thylacinidae is an extinct family of carnivorous marsupials from the order Dasyuromorphia. The only species to survive into modern times was the thylacine, which became extinct in 1936.
Riversleigh World Heritage Area is Australia's most famous fossil location, recognised for the series of well preserved fossils deposited from the Late Oligocene to more recent geological periods. The fossiliferous limestone system is located near the Gregory River in the north-west of Queensland, an environment that was once a very wet rainforest that became more arid as the Gondwanan land masses separated and the Australian continent moved north. The approximately 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi) area has fossil remains of ancient mammals, birds, and reptiles of the Oligocene and Miocene ages, many of which were discovered and are only known from the Riversleigh area; the species that have occurred there are known as the Riversleigh fauna.
Yalkaparidon is an extinct genus of Australian marsupials, first described in 1988 and known only from the Oligo-Miocene deposits of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, Australia.
The International Thylacine Specimen Database (ITSD) is the culmination of a four-year research project to catalogue and digitally photograph all known surviving specimen material of the thylacine held within museum, university, and private collections.
Certainly in my experience this is by far the most thorough compilation focused on an extinct or endangered animal ever produced and, as such, bound to be enormously useful to many generations of scientists to come.
David Parker Craig, an Australian chemist, was the Foundation Professor of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry and later Emeritus Professor in the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian National University in Canberra.
Palorchestes is an extinct genus of large terrestrial, herbivorous Australian marsupial of the family Palorchestidae, living from the Miocene through to the Late Pleistocene. Like other palorchestids, it had highly retracted nasal region suggesting that it had a prehensile lip, as well as highly unusual clawed forelimbs that were used to grasp vegetation.
Zygomaturus is an extinct genus of giant marsupial belonging to the family Diprotodontidae which inhabited Australia from the Late Miocene to Late Pleistocene.
Euryzygoma is an extinct genus of marsupial which inhabited humid eucalyptus forests in Queensland and New South Wales during the Pliocene of Australia. Euryzygoma is believed to have weighed around 500 kg, and differed from other diprotodonts in having unusual, flaring cheekbones that may have been used either for storing food or for sexual display. Euryzygoma is thought to be the ancestral genus from which Diprotodon evolved.
Warendja is an extinct genus of wombat. It is known from two species, W. encorensis from the Late Miocene Riversleigh site in Queensland, and W. wakefieldi known from the Pleistocene of South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria. The two species are primarily distinguished by features of their enamel. It became extinct as part of the Quaternary extinction event. Warendja wakefieldi is estimated to have weighed about 10 kg, considerably smaller than living wombats. Warendja thought to be relatively basal amongst wombats, being the most primitive member to possess hypselodont cheek teeth. The morphology of the humerus of W. wakefieldi suggests that it engaged in scratch-digging.
Malleodectes is an extinct genus of unusual marsupial, first discovered in 2011 at Riversleigh, Queensland, Australia.
Riversleigh fauna is the collective term for any species of animal identified in fossil sites located in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area.
Macroderma godthelpi is a species of bat known from fossil material found in Australia, one of the larger carnivorous megadermatid family of the order Chiroptera. They resembled the modern species Macroderma gigas, known as a false vampire or ghost bat, although significantly smaller than any other species of Macroderma.
Hipposideros winsburyorum is a hipposiderid species of bat known by fossil specimens, one of the many new taxa of chiropterans discovered in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area. The species existed during the Pliocene.
Karen H. Black, born about 1970, is a palaeontologist at the University of New South Wales. Black is the leading author on research describing new families, genera and species of fossil mammals. She is interested in understanding faunal change and community structure in order to gain new understandings of past, current and future changes in biodiversity which are driven by climate.
Whollydooleya tomnpatrichorum is a fossil species discovered just beyond the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, an early example of adaptations to hypercarnivory. The dating of the deposit, while uncertain, is associated with material assigned to the genus Ekaltadeta, placing its occurrence in the middle or late Miocene epoch.
Madakoala is a genus of extinct phascolarctid marsupials with three known species, Madakoala devisi,Madakoala wellsiandMadakoala robustus. It is allied to extinct genera Invictokoala, Koobor, Litokoala, Nimiokoala, Perikoala, Phascolarctos and Priscakoala, along with Phascolarctos, the genus of the existing koala. Madakoala went extinct around 280,000 years ago in the Pleistocene epoch. They are known to exist by limited cranial material in fossils, so the existence of some of the subspecies is questionable because of missing dental data.
References
- ↑ "Curators and Directors of the Australian Museum". Australian Museum. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
- ↑ "Professor Mike Archer - Profile". UNSW Faculty of Science. Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
- ↑ Prof. Mike Archer (Australia) Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Honorary Associates of Rationalist International, retrieved 2009-08-08
- ↑ Riversleigh fossils Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 2009-08-08
- ↑ With a Tiger in the Tank World Press Review, published August 2002, retrieved 2009-08-08
- ↑ True or False? Extinction Is Forever Smithsonian magazine, June 2003, retrieved 2009-08-08
- ↑ Video on YouTube
- ↑ Archer, Mike (15 December 2011). "Ordering the vegetarian meal? There's more animal blood on your hands". The Conversation . Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
But if you want to minimise animal suffering and promote more sustainable agriculture, adopting a vegetarian diet might be the worst possible thing you could do.
- ↑ The Clarke Medal and Clarke Memorial Lectureship Archived 2010-03-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Australia Day 2008 Honours List Archived 2009-10-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "Fellows of RSNSW". RSNSW. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- ↑ Carroll, Lucy (15 Oct 2019) Society awards top honour to UNSW palaeontologist. Newsroom. University of New South Wales
