Australia's oldest marsupial fossils and their biogeographical implications.

ABSTRACT:

Background

We describe new cranial and post-cranial marsupial fossils from the early Eocene Tingamarra Local Fauna in Australia and refer them to Djarthia murgonensis, which was previously known only from fragmentary dental remains.

Methodology/principal findings

The new material indicates that Djarthia is a member of Australidelphia, a pan-Gondwanan clade comprising all extant Australian marsupials together with the South American microbiotheres. Djarthia is therefore the oldest known crown-group marsupial anywhere in the world that is represented by dental, cranial and post-cranial remains, and the oldest known Australian marsupial by 30 million years. It is also the most plesiomorphic known australidelphian, and phylogenetic analyses place it outside all other Australian

SUBMITTER: Beck RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2267999 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature