Barinya

Barinya
Temporal range: Early Miocene–Middle Miocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Family: Dasyuridae
Subfamily: †Barinyainae
Wroe, 1999
Genus: †Barinya
Wroe, 1999
Type species
Barinya wangala
(Wroe, 1999)
Other species
  • †Barinya kutjamarpensis
    (Binfield et al., 2017)[1]

Barinya is a fossil genus from the marsupial family Dasyuridae, which contains the oldest known undoubted dasyurid.[2] It is the only genus in the subfamily Barinyainae.

The principal differences between Barinya and more recent dasyurids are in the dentition and skull morphology, with Barinya displaying more primitive features. One described fossil exists and at least one remains to be described. This genus has only been found at Riversleigh in Queensland, where it is quite common in deposits from the Oligo-Miocene.[3]

References

  1. ^ Pippa Binfield; Michael Archer; Suzanne J. Hand; Karen H. Black; Troy J. Myers; Anna K. Gillespie & Derrick A. Arena (2017). "A new Miocene carnivorous marsupial, Barinya kutjamarpensis (Dasyuromorphia), from central Australia". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 41 (1): 46–53. doi:10.1080/03115518.2016.1180029. S2CID 133283494.
  2. ^ Long, J., Archer, M., Flannery, T. and Hand, S. 2002. Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 51. ISBN 0-8018-7223-5.
  3. ^ Wroe, S. 1999. "The geologically oldest dasyurid, from the Miocene of Riversleigh, north-west Queensland". Paleontology. 42:501-527. doi:10.1111/1475-4983.00082.