Warendja

Warendja
Temporal range: Late Miocene—Late Pleistocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Vombatidae
Genus: †Warendja
Hope and Wilkinson, 1982
Species
  • Warendja wakefieldi (Hope and Wilkinson, 1982)
  • Warendja encorensis (Brewer et al., 2007)

Warendja is an extinct genus of wombat. It is known from two species, W. encorensis from the Late Miocene Riversleigh site in Queensland,[1] and W. wakefieldi known from the Pleistocene of South Australia, New South Wales,[2] and Victoria.[3] The two species are primarily distinguished by features of their enamel.[1] It became extinct as part of the Quaternary extinction event.[3][2][4][5][6] Warendja wakefieldi is estimated to have weighed about 10 kg, considerably smaller than living wombats.[7] Warendja thought to be relatively basal amongst wombats,[8] being the most primitive member to possess hypselodont (high crowned) cheek teeth. The morphology of the humerus of W. wakefieldi suggests that it engaged in scratch-digging.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Brewer, P., M. Archer, S. Hand, and H. Godthelp. 2007. A new species of the wombat Warendja from late Miocene deposits at Riversleigh, northwest Queensland, Australia. Palaeontology 50:811–828.
  2. ^ a b Brewer, Philippa (2007-06-01). "New record of Warendja wakefieldi (Vombatidae; Marsupialia) from Wombeyan Caves, New South Wales". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 31 (2): 153–171. Bibcode:2007Alch...31..153B. doi:10.1080/03115510701305132. ISSN 0311-5518. S2CID 129848516.
  3. ^ a b Hope, J H; Wilkinson, H E. "Warendja wakefieldi, a new genus of wombat (Maruspialia , Vombatidae) from Pleistocene sediments in McEacherns Cave, western Victoria". Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria. 43. Archived from the original on 2019-11-08. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  4. ^ Long, John A.; Archer, Michael (2002-01-01). Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. UNSW Press. ISBN 9780868404356.
  5. ^ Talent, John A. (2012-06-28). Earth and Life: Global Biodiversity, Extinction Intervals and Biogeographic Perturbations Through Time. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9789048134281.
  6. ^ "The weird wonderful wombat Warendja Wakefieldi Hope & Wilkinson - Version details". Trove. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  7. ^ Johnson, C. N.; Prideaux, G. J. (October 2004). "Extinctions of herbivorous mammals in the late Pleistocene of Australia in relation to their feeding ecology: No evidence for environmental change as cause of extinction: EXTINCTION OF AUSTRALIAN MEGAFAUNA". Austral Ecology. 29 (5): 553–557. doi:10.1111/j.1442-9993.2004.01389.x.
  8. ^ Louys, Julien; Duval, Mathieu; Beck, Robin M. D.; Pease, Eleanor; Sobbe, Ian; Sands, Noel; Price, Gilbert J. (November 2022). Hautier, Lionel (ed.). "Cranial remains of Ramsayia magna from the Late Pleistocene of Australia and the evolution of gigantism in wombats (Marsupialia, Vombatidae)". Papers in Palaeontology. 8 (6). Bibcode:2022PPal....8E1475L. doi:10.1002/spp2.1475. hdl:10072/420259. ISSN 2056-2799.
  9. ^ Brewer, Philippa; Archer, Michael; Hand, Suzanne; Price, Gilbert (2018). "A new species of Miocene wombat (Marsupialia, Vombatiformes) from Riversleigh, Queensland, Australia, and implications for the evolutionary history of the Vombatidae". Palaeontologia Electronica. doi:10.26879/870. hdl:10141/622528.


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