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.
Bandicoots are a group of more than 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial, largely nocturnal marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia. They are endemic to the Australia–New Guinea region, including the Bismarck Archipelago to the east and Seram and Halmahera to the west.
The Vombatiformes are one of the three suborders of the large marsupial order Diprotodontia. Seven of the nine known families within this suborder are extinct; only the families Phascolarctidae, with the koala, and Vombatidae, with three extant species of wombat, survive.
Thylacoleo is an extinct genus of carnivorous marsupials that lived in Australia from the late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene, often known as marsupial lions. They were the largest and last members of the family Thylacoleonidae, occupying the position of apex predator within Australian ecosystems. The largest and last species, Thylacoleo carnifex approached the weight of a lioness. The estimated average weight for the species ranges from 101 to 130 kg.
Dromornis is a genus of large to enormous prehistoric birds native to Australia during the Oligocene to Pliocene epochs. The species were flightless, possessing greatly reduced wing structures but with large legs, similar to the modern ostrich or emu. They were likely to have been predominantly, if not exclusively, herbivorous browsers. The male of the largest species, Dromornis stirtoni, is a contender for the tallest and heaviest bird, and possibly exhibited aggressive territorial behaviour. They belong to the family Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds known as mihirungs.
Barawertornis tedfordi was a dromornithid (mihirung), a large flightless fowl hailing from Late Oligocene to Early Miocene. The only species in the genus Barawertornis, its fossil remains are found in strata of the Riversleigh deposits located at two sites in Northwestern Queensland, Australia.
The giant koala is an extinct arboreal marsupial which existed in Australia during the Pleistocene epoch. Phascolarctos stirtoni was about one-third larger than the contemporary koala, P. cinereus, and has an estimated weight of 13 kg (29 lb), which is the same weight as a large contemporary male koala.
The New Guinean long-nosed bandicoots are members of the order Peramelemorphia. They are small to medium-sized marsupial omnivores native to New Guinea.
The marsupial family Peramelidae contains the extant bandicoots. They are found throughout Australia and New Guinea, with at least some species living in every available habitat, from rainforest to desert. Four fossil peramelids are described. One known extinct species of bandicoot, the pig-footed bandicoot, was so different from the other species, it was recently moved into its own family.
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.
Wakaleo is an extinct genus of medium-sized thylacoleonids that lived in Australia in the Late Oligocene and Miocene Epochs. Although much smaller than its close relative, the marsupial lion, Wakaleo would have been a successful hunter. It had teeth specially designed for cutting and stabbing. The genus is from an extinct family of Vombatiformes, so it is distantly related to the herbivorous wombats.
Palorchestidae is an extinct family of vombatiform marsupials whose members are sometimes referred to as marsupial tapirs due to the retracted nasal region of their skulls causing them to superficially resemble those of true tapirs. The idea that they had a tapir-like trunk has been contested, with other authors contending that it is more likely that they had a prehensile lip and protrusible tongue instead. While earlier representatives like Propalorchestes had relatively unspecialsed forelimbs, the last member of the family, Palorchestes developed unusual clawed forelimbs with a morphology unlike that of any living animal, which were likely used to tear vegetation. They are suggested to have been browsers. The group experienced an increase in body size over time, with Propalorchestes weighing around 150 kilograms (330 lb), while the last known species, Palorchestes azael may have exceeded a ton. They are considered to be members of Diprotodontoidea, most closely related to the also extinct Diprotodontidae. Their closest living relatives are wombats.
Icarops is an extinct, possibly paraphyletic genus of mystacine bat with three described species. The genus is known from fossils found at Riversleigh, north-western Queensland, Bullock Creek, Northern Territory, and Lake Ngapakaldi to Lake Palankarinna Fossil Area South Australia Australia. The fossils date from the late Oligocene to early Miocene.
Ektopodon is an extinct genus of marsupial, and is the type genus of the family Ektopodontidae which occurred in forested environments in South Australia, Queensland and Victoria. The last species of this group went extinct in the early Pleistocene. Its body mass was estimated around 1300 grams. Scientists believe that ektopodontids were highly specialised seed-eating possums.
Litokoala is an extinct genus of marsupials, and along with Nimiokoala, is closely related to the modern koala. The three genera may have diverged at an earlier date, although the drying of the continent and the expansion of Eucalyptus forests towards the late Miocene may have delayed the evolution of cranial features unique to the modern genera. This indicates that either fossil genus could be an ancestor of the modern genus, or the modern genus has a common ancestor to both. More material needs collection to improve their taxonomical relationships.
Perikoala is an extinct genus of marsupials, related to the modern koala. The genus diverged from a common ancestor of the other koala genera Nimiokoala, Litokoala, and Phascolarctos, which contains the living koala.
Pinpanetta is an extinct genus of birds, in the duck family, from the Late Oligocene of central Australia. The genus name comes from Lake Pinpa, in the Lake Eyre Basin of north-eastern South Australia, with reference to the Pinpa Local Fauna from which much of the descriptive fossil material derives, and from the Greek netta (“duck”). It comprises three species:
Wilaru is an extinct genus of bird of uncertain phylogenetic placement from the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene of Australia. It was originally classified as a stone-curlew, but subsequently it was argued to be a member of the extinct family Presbyornithidae instead. It is either the oldest known burhinid or the youngest known presbyornithid. The type species is Wilaru tedfordi; genus also includes the second species Wilaru prideauxi. The type species was described from fossil material collected from Lake Pinpa, Lake Palankarinna and Billeroo Creek, in the Lake Eyre Basin of north-eastern South Australia. The genus name Wilaru is the term for “stone curlew” in the Diyari language of the Lake Eyre region. The specific epithet of the type species honours American palaeontologist Richard H. Tedford (1929–2011) of the American Museum of Natural History, who led the 1971 expedition to Lake Pinpa during which much of the descriptive material was collected.
Ruben Arthur Stirton (1901-1966), known to his friends as "Stirt", was an American paleontologist, specializing in mammals, who was active in South America, the United States and Australia. Stirton was closely associated with the University of California Museum of Paleontology, receiving an appointment as curator in 1930 and as its fourth director from 1949 to 1966. His career also saw engaged as a lecturer, associate professorship and then as a professor in 1951, from which time he was director of the University's Department of Paleontology.
Propalorchestes is a fossil genus of palorchestid marsupial that existed in Australia during the Miocene epoch.
