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• Fossil sites in Australia represent key
stages in the development of Australia's
fauna. These sites represent extreme
diversity and quality of preserved
materials. They represent links through
time that unify the biota of the past with
those of today.
Riversleigh
• Riversleigh - located in
north-west Queensland .
Tasmanian Tiger
• Thylacine Thylacinus cynocephalus is a recently
extinct marsupial.
• Also known as the Tasmanian Tiger
• Was the largest living mammalian carnivore in
Australia.
• Other ancestral marsupial forms found at
Riversleigh include moles, bandicoot, marsupial
'lions', koala, wombat, kangaroo and possums.
Time line and position of the
continents during formation of
the Riversleigh fossil deposits.
More than 250 fossil sites have been discovered in the rough,
inaccessible terrain at Riversleigh. [Photo: Stephan Williams]
Riversleigh fossils
• Our understanding of the origins, evolution and
history of many of Australia's vertebrate groups
has been greatly enhanced by the fossil record of
Riversleigh's rich Oligo-Miocene habitats.
• These Tertiary faunas include ancestors and
representatives of the kangaroos, rat-kangaroos,
bandicoots, wombats, marsupial moles, thylacines,
koalas, possums, pygmy possums, bats, rodents
and platypuses.
The unique teeth and skull of
Yalkaparidon
Fangaroo
• The unique teeth and skull of
Yalkaparidon (top) earned it the
nickname 'Thingodonta'. Even though it
was a herbivore, 'Fangaroo' (bottom)
had huge canine teeth, which it may
have used for defence in the same way
as the pygmy deers of modern
rainforests.
Naracoorte
Naracoorte
• Naracoorte (300ha) lies in the
south-east of South Australia.
• There are Pleistocene fossil
vertebrate deposits at Naracoorte
Caves and are considered to be
Australia’s largest.
Extinction
• The Naracoorte fauna includes elements of
the extinct Australian megafauna. During the
Late Tertiary and Pleistocene there was a
trend of increasing body size in animal
species. The ancestors of modern species
were larger then, and some species that are
now extinct were very big. Zygomaturus
trilobus and the marsupial 'tapir' Palorchestes
azael were large marsupial herbivores.
Macropus titan
• They browsed alongside giant kangaroos
such as Macropus titan, a giant form of the
Grey Kangaroo and Procoptodon goliah, a
hoof-toed Giant Short-faced Kangaroo that
could reach 3m. Wonambi naracoortensis, a
gigantic snake, searched for prey along with
Thylacinus cynocephalus, the Tasmanian
Tiger, Sarcophilus harrisii, the Tasmanian
Devil and Thylacoleo carnifex, the leopardsized marsupial lion.
Marsupial Lion Thylacoleo
carnifex
Skeleton of Short-faced kangaroo
Sthenurus
• Skeletons of two extinct megafaunal
animals
Naracoorte fossil time periods
• Throughout this period Australia was almost
in the same position that it is in today (red).
The continent is still moving northwards
and will collide with south-east Asia within
the next 30 million years. The Pleistocene
Epoch lasted from 2 million years ago to
10,000 years ago.
Murgon
• The Murgon Fossil Site is located near Kingaroy
in south-east Queensland. The site is significant as
the only site in Australia that records a diverse
vertebrate fauna dating from the early Tertiary
Period (55 million years before present),
approximately ten million years after the
extinction of the dinosaurs. The site includes some
outstanding fossil records, including the world's
oldest fossil songbirds, the oldest fossil marsupial
remains in Australia, a placental mammal
(Condylarth), one of the world's oldest bats, the
only known fossil remains of leiopelmatid frogs,
and the only known fossils of salamanders in
Australia.
• The cavy-like Thylacotinga bartholomaii
approaches the waters' edge with its young.
At left is a microbiotheriid marsupial, the
closest relatives of this primitive marsupial
are known only from South America. On the
right is the primitive Condylarth Tingamarra
porterorum, an animal that changed scientific
understanding of Australia's fossil mammal
history. In the trees are the world's oldest
known songbirds. In the background
Australia's oldest fossil bandicoot drinks as
the oldest known Australian fossil bat,
Australonycteris clarkae, flies overhead.
[Reconstruction: Anne Musser]
Tingamarra porterorum
• One of the most significant finds from
Murgon, confirming the Gondwanan
connection was the discovery of the
placental Condylarth Tingamarra
porterorum. This internationally significant
fossil is Australia's oldest placental land
mammal.
Molar of Tingamarra porterorum
Time line and position of the
continents during formation of
the Murgon fossil deposits.
• Early Eocene 54.6 million years ago
Time line and position of the continents
during formation of the Murgon fossil
deposits.
Still connected to Antarctica and South
America by a land bridge, the Australian
continent (red) was moving northward. The
Eocene Epoch lasted from 55 million years
ago to 34 million years ago.
• The ancient swampy environment was
home to soft-shelled turtles, Australia's
oldest known frogs and swamp crocodiles
of the genus Kambara. Among the trees
flew Australia's oldest known bat,
Australonycteris clarkae, and birds that
have been recognised as the world's earliest
known songbirds, raising the possibility that
this group of birds evolved in Australia.
Crocodile skull fossil at Murgon
• Palaeontologists excavating at a fossil
quarry at Murgon. Brushes and fine tools
are used to remove clay from around fossil
bones such as this crocodile skull (far right).
[Photos: Henk Godthelp].
Bluff Downs
Bluff Downs wetland 3.8 million
years ago
• A view of Bluff Downs wetland 3.8 million
years ago. A sthenurine kangaroo nervously
watches a saltwater crocodile ambushes a
large marsupial herbivore Euryzygoma.
Looking on ravenously is an 8m giant
python Liasis and a giant goanna
Megalania. Flamingoes wade in the
shallows beyond. [Reconstruction: Anne
Musser]
• At Bluff Downs a wetland environment,
similar to modern-day Kakadu, was
home to a rich diversity of animals.
Their fossils provide crucial information
about this important stage in the
evolution of the Australian continent and
its animals.
Pliocene 3.8 mya
• Pliocene 3.8 million years ago
Time line and position of the continents
during formation of the Bluff Downs fossil
locality.
Skull of the giant Pliocene
herbivore Euryzygoma
Molar tooth of the mysterious
koala-like Koobor
• The skull of the giant Pliocene herbivore
Euryzygoma with its unusual protruding
cheek bones (top) and a molar tooth of
the mysterious koala-like Koobor
(bottom) [Photos: Brian Mackness].
• Also at Bluff Downs were the ancestors of
modern animals including animals unlike any
known today. Koobor jimbarretti was a
strange koala-like animal that still puzzles
researchers. Flamingoes, which are no longer
found in Australia, waded in the shallows for
food. Ancestral dasyurids (marsupial
carnivores), kangaroos, wombats and
bandicoots all flourished here, as did
Thylacoleo crassidentatus, the precursor of
the leopard-sized Pleistocene Marsupial Lion
T. carnifex.