Yarala

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Yarala
Temporal range: Oligocene - Miocene
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Peramelemorphia
Family: Yaralidae
Muirhead, 2000
Genus: Yarala
Muirhead, 1995
Species

Yarala is a genus of fossil mammals that resemble contemporary bandicoots. The superfamily Yaraloidea and family Yaralidae were created following the discovery of the type species Yarala burchfieldi in 1995, on the basis that it lacks synapomorphies that unite all other peramelemorphian taxa. [1] [2]

A second species was described in 2006, which is suggested to be ancestral to Y. burchfieldi. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Macrotis</i> Genus of mammals

Macrotis is a genus of desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores known as bilbies or rabbit-bandicoots; they are members of the order Peramelemorphia. At the time of European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. The lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950s; the greater bilby survives but remains endangered. It is currently listed as a vulnerable species. It is on average 55 cm (22 in) long, excluding the tail, which is usually around 29 cm (11 in) long. Its fur is usually grey or white, it has a long pointy nose and very long ears, hence earning its nick-name, the rabbit-eared bandicoot.

Greater bilby Species of marsupial

The greater bilby, often referred to simply as the bilby since the lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950s, is an Australian species of nocturnal omnivorous animal in the order Peramelemorphia. Other vernacular names include dalgyte, pinkie, or rabbit-eared bandicoot. Greater bilbies live in arid parts of northwestern and central Australia. Their range and population is in decline.

Peramelemorphia Order of mammals

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.

Bandicoot Marsupial endemic to the Australia-New Guinea region

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.

Paucituberculata Order of marsupials

Paucituberculata is an order of South American marsupials. Although currently represented only by the seven living species of shrew opossums, this order was formerly much more diverse, with more than 60 extinct species named from the fossil record, particularly from the late Oligocene to early Miocene epochs. The earliest paucituberculatans date to the late Paleocene. The group went through a pronounced decline in the middle Miocene epoch, which resulted in the extinction of all families of this order except for the living Caenolestidae.

Thylacinidae Extinct family of marsupials

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Australidelphia Superorder of marsupials

Australidelphia is the superorder that contains roughly three-quarters of all marsupials, including all those native to Australasia and a single species — the colocolo opossum — from South America. All other American marsupials are members of the Ameridelphia. Analysis of retrotransposon insertion sites in the nuclear DNA of a variety of marsupials has shown that the South American monito del monte's lineage is the most basal of the superorder.

<i>Chaeropus</i> Extinct genus of marsupials

Chaeropus, known as the pig-footed bandicoots, is a genus of small mammals that became extinct during the twentieth century. They were unique marsupials, of the order Peramelemorphia, with unusually thin legs yet were able to move rapidly. Two recognised species inhabited dense vegetation on the arid and semi-arid plains of Australia. The genus' distribution range was later reduced to an inland desert region, where it was last recorded in the 1950s; it is now presumed extinct.

New Guinean long-nosed bandicoot Genus of marsupials

The New Guinean long-nosed bandicoots are members of the order Peramelemorphia. They are small to medium-sized marsupial omnivores native to New Guinea.

<i>Perameles</i> Genus of marsupials

Perameles is a genus of marsupials of the order Peramelemorphia.

Short-nosed bandicoot Genus of marsupials

The short-nosed bandicoots are members of the order Peramelemorphia. These marsupials can be found across Australia, although their distribution can be patchy. Genetic evidence suggests that short-nosed bandicoots diverged from the related long-nosed species around eight million years ago, during the Miocene epoch, and underwent a rapid diversification around three million years ago, during the late Pliocene.

Peramelidae Family of marsupials

The marsupial family Peramelidae contains all of 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.

Southern brown bandicoot Species of marsupial

The southern brown bandicoot is a short-nosed bandicoot, a type of marsupial, found mostly in southern Australia. A similar species in South Western Australia, known as the quenda was previously thought to be the southern brown bandicoot, but has since been identified as a separate animal and reclassified as Isoodon fusciventer.

Long-nosed bandicoot Species of mammal

The long-nosed bandicoot, a marsupial, is a species of bandicoot found in eastern Australia, from north Queensland along the east coast to Victoria. Around 40 centimetres (16 in) long, it is sandy- or grey-brown with a long snouty nose. Omnivorous, it forages for invertebrates, fungi and plants at night.

Galadi is an extinct genus of predatory bandicoot from Oligo-Miocene deposits of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, Australia. It was first named by K.J. Travouillon, Y. Gurovich, R.M.D. Beck and J. Muirhead in 2010 and the type species is Galadi speciosus; additional three species, G. adversus, G. amplus and G. grandis, were described in 2013. The genus is represented by three well-preserved skulls and several isolated maxillae and dentaries. Its body mass would have been close to two pounds, making it relatively large for its family. The combination of body size, robustness and short, stout skull indicates that Galadi would have been able to take relatively large prey for its size, though the morphology of its molars indicates it may have been omnivorous.

This article records new taxa of fossil mammals of every kind that have been described during the year 2013, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of mammals that occurred in the year 2013.

Bulungu is an extinct genus of mouse-sized bandicoot from Oligo-Miocene deposits of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, and the Etadunna Formation, Australia. It was first named by Y. Gurovich, K.J. Travouillon, R.M.D. Beck, J. Muirhead and M. Archer in 2013 and the type species is Bulungu palara. Two additional species, B. muirheadae and B. campbelli, were described in 2013. Bulungu muirheadae is the oldest fossil bandicoot recovered to date.

This article records new taxa of fossil mammals of every kind that have been described during the year 2010, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of mammals that occurred in the year 2010.

Crash bandicoot is an extinct bandicoot, known from fossils located at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northeast Australia.

Liyamayi dayi is a mammal species of the Thylacomyidae family known from fossils located at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northeast Australia. The discovery of the specimens was identified as deposited around fifteen million years ago, revising the earliest record of this peramelemorphian lineage from those of species that existed around ten million years later.

References

  1. Muirhead, J. & Filan, S.L. (1995). "Yarala burchfieldi, a plesiomorphic bandicoot (marsupialia, peramelemorphia) from Oligo-Miocene deposits of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland". Journal of Paleontology. 69 (1): 127–134. doi:10.1017/S0022336000026986.
  2. Muirhead, J. (2000). "Yaraloidea (marsupialia, peramelemorphia), a new superfamily of marsupial and a description and analysis of the cranium of the Miocene Yarala burchfieldi". Journal of Paleontology. 74 (3): 512–523. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2000)074<0512:YMPANS>2.0.CO;2.
  3. Schwartz, L.R. (2006). "A new species of bandicot from the Oligocene of Northern Australia and implications for correlating Australian Tertiary mammal faunas". Palaeontology. 49 (5): 991–998. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00584.x.