| Pseudomys vandycki Temporal range: Early Pliocene - Recent | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Pseudomys |
| Species: | P. vandycki |
| Binomial name | |
| Pseudomys vandycki | |
Pseudomys vandycki is a species of the murid family, mice and rats, that is known from fossils discovered in Queensland, Australia.
Pseudomys vandycki was described in 1990 by Henk Godthelp. [1] The author assigned the specific epithet vandycki in honour of Stephen Van Dyke of the Queensland Museum, acknowledging his contributions to the understanding of mammalian systematics in Australia. [2] The holotype is an incomplete jaw retaining the first and second molar, discovered at the Chinchilla Rifle Range site in 1983. [3] [1]
The species is allied to the Mesembriomys -group, but the phylogeny and biogeographic history of Australasian murids is subject to ongoing research. [3]
Pseudomys vandycki is a medium-sized species of the genus, similar in size and dentition to the ash-grey mouse Pseudomys albocinereus found in Southwest Australia. [2] The morphology of the first molar's crown is characteristic to the species, the first cusp is rectangular and nearly perpendicular to the second and third cusp. [3]
Contemporary species of Pseudomys are unspecialised foragers, eating a variety of plants and fungi with invertebrates often included in the diet. [3]
The rodents' success in other parts of the world is well represented in the diversity of Australian mammal fauna, however, this species and Zyzomys rackhami are the only fossils of the murid family to be discovered and described.
The site of discovery was the Chinchilla fossil site, located in the southeast of Queensland, and the species is only known at this location. The deposit was uncovered in sandstone associated with rivers and lakes and dated to the late Pliocene epoch. [2] Pseudomys vandycki is regarded as an "old endemic" mammal of Australia, part of an early radiation of the rodents into the continent that represented the only terrestrial placental mammals to colonise Australia during the tertiary period. The Chinchilla area was open forest in the Pliocene, with an increasingly warm and seasonally variable climate. The dominant vegetation was eucalyptus woodlands that were displaced by grassland as the climate of the region became warmer and drier. [3]
Obdurodon is a genus of extinct monotreme. They appeared much like their modern day relative the platypus, except adults retained their molar teeth. Unlike the platypus which forages on the lakebed, Obdurodon may have foraged in the water column or surface.
Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae, are highly specialized marsupial mammals, known from two species found at the Australian interior.
The order Peramelemorphia includes the bandicoots and bilbies; it equates approximately to the mainstream of marsupial omnivores. All members of the order are endemic to the twin land masses of 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, or the weight of a half-grown kitten.
Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of mainly Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Halmahera, Buru, Seram, and many smaller islands. The islands of Wallacea lie between the Sunda Shelf to the west, and the Sahul Shelf including Australia and New Guinea to the south and east. The total land area of Wallacea is 347,000 km2 (134,000 sq mi).
The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.
Gould's mouse, also known as the Shark Bay mouse and djoongari in the Pintupi and Luritja languages, is a species of rodent in the murid family. Once ranging throughout Australia from Western Australia to New South Wales, its range has since been reduced to five islands off the coast of Western Australia.
Pseudomys is a genus of rodent that contains a wide variety of mice native to Australia and New Guinea. They are among the few terrestrial placental mammals that colonised Australia without human intervention.
The long-tailed mouse is a native Australian mammal in the Order Rodentia and the Family Muridae. It is found only on the island of Tasmania. The long-tailed mouse is an omnivore that feeds on insects and a range of plants. It is found in forested areas, particularly in sub-alpine scree, and may live in burrows.
The plains rat(Pseudomys australis), also known as the palyoora, plains mouse and eastern mouse, is a conilurine rodent native to arid and semi-arid Australia. Referred to as the pallyoora or yarlie by Indigenous groups, the plains rat was once widely distributed across central Australia, including north-west New South Wales and south-west Queensland; however, habitat degradation due to grazing, introduced predators and drought have contributed to its decline. Consequently, the plains rat has been listed as 'presumed extinct' in New South Wales and Victoria, 'endangered' in the Northern Territory and Queensland and 'vulnerable' in Western Australia and South Australia. While recent research has indicated the presence of the plains rat in areas such as the Fowlers Gap and Strzelecki Desert regions of New South Wales and within the Diamantina National Park in Queensland, there are only five sub-populations currently recognised nationally, none of which coincide with recent discoveries of the plains rat. As the current population trend of the plains rat has been listed as 'declining' by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the IUCN conservation status for the species is 'vulnerable'.
Tingamarra is an extinct genus of mammals from Australia. Its age, lifestyle, and relationships remain controversial.
Pebble-mound mice are a group of rodents from Australia in the genus Pseudomys. They are small, brownish mice with medium to long, often pinkish brown tails. Unlike some other species of Pseudomys, they construct mounds of pebbles around their burrows, which play an important role in their social life.
?Oryzomys pliocaenicus is a fossil rodent from the Hemphillian of Kansas, central United States. It is known from a single mandible with the back part missing. All three molars are present, but very worn. Together, the molars are 3.6 mm long. The fossil was discovered in 1935 and described in 1939 as a possible species of Oryzomys. Later authors doubted this allocation and suggested that it may instead belong in Bensonomys or Jacobsomys, but the material may not allow a definite identification.
Thylacoleo hilli lived during the Pliocene and was half the size of Thylacoleo crassidentatus.
LACM 149371 is an enigmatic fossil mammalian tooth from the Paleogene of Peru. It is from the Santa Rosa fossil site, which is of uncertain age but possibly late Eocene or Oligocene. The tooth is poorly preserved and may have been degraded by acidic water or because it passed through a predator's digestive tract. Its largest dimension is 2.65 mm. It is triangular in shape and bears six cusps that surround the middle of the tooth, where there are three basins (fossae). Crests connects the cusps and separate the fossae. The microscopic structure of the enamel is poorly preserved.
The Bluff Downs fossil site is a paleontological site of Pliocene age in northern Queensland, Australia. It is one of the most significant fossil sites of Pliocene age in Australia due to its unique fauna and specific dating. The fossil site lies on the banks of the Allingham Creek on the pastoral property of Bluff Downs Station, northwest of Charters Towers on the Cape York Peninsula
Apeomyoides savagei is a fossil rodent from the Miocene of the United States, the only species in the genus Apeomyoides. It is known from fragmentary jaws and isolated teeth from a site in the early Barstovian, around 15–16 million years ago, of Nevada. Together with other species from scattered localities in the United States, Japan, and Europe, Apeomyoides is classified in the subfamily Apeomyinae of the extinct rodent family Eomyidae. Apeomyines are a rare but widespread group that may have been adapted to a relatively dry habitat.
Yingabalanara is an extinct mammal from the Miocene of Australia. Known only from a few teeth, its affinities with other mammal groups remain unresolved.
Ignacius is a genus of extinct mammal from the early Cenozoic era. This genus is present in the fossil record from around 62-33 Ma. The earliest known specimens of Ignacius come from the Torrejonian of the Fort Union Formation, Wyoming and the most recent known specimen of Ignacius was found in the Medicine Pole Hills of North Dakota. Ignacius is one of ten genera within the family Paromomyidae, the longest living family of any plesiadapiforms, persisting for around 30 Ma during the Paleocene and Eocene epochs. The analyses of postcranial fossils by paleontologists suggest that members of the family Paromomyidae, including the genus Ignacius, most likely possessed adaptations for arboreality.
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.
Crash bandicoot is an extinct bandicoot, known from fossils located at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northeast Australia.