Tingamarra Fauna

The Tingamarra Fauna is associated with the early Eocene Murgon fossil site, and contains the earliest known non-flying eutherian, passerine, trionychidae turtles, mekosuchine crocodiles along with frogs, lungfish and teleost fish in Australia. The Murgon fossil site is located near Kingaroy in south-east Queensland (26° 14' S, 151° 57' E).

Geology

Material that represents the fossil component is the MP1 horizon in a sequence of lacustrine clays from Boat Mountain. The geological formation of the site is not known for certain, but may be associated with the Oakdale Sandstone formation. The area was a swamp or shallow lake at the time of deposition, though the habitat has not been determined. Potassium-argon dating of illites has given a date of about 54.6 million years, which is before Australia's separation from Antarctica and South America

Paleobiota

Fish

Fish of Tingamarra
Genus Species Abundance Notes Images

Amphibians

Amphibians of Tingamarra
Genus Species Abundance Notes Images

Reptiles

Reptiles of Tingamarra
Genus Species Abundance Notes Images
Patagoniophis P. australiensis (Scanlon, 2004) Many disarticulated vertebrae and fragmented ribs
Alamitophis A. tingamarra Fragmented dentary and rib along with disarticulated vertebrae.
Kambara K. implexidens and K. murgonensis
?Madtsoia M.sp Rib head and proximal shaft Costal tubercle is broken so not able to determine if it was robust as in madtsoiids or slender in proximal view as with the extent serpentes. Some other characteristics indicate a Patagoniophis affinity excluding the large size (3.9 by 2.6 mm), but is still smaller than Madtsoia, to which it is most similar.
Murgonemys M. braithwaitei Almost complete semi-articulated carapace with vertebrae

Mammals

Mammals of Tingamarra
Taxon Species Material Notes Images
Archaeonothos A. henkgodthelpi QM F53825, an isolated upper molar. A carnivorous metatherian of uncertain affinities.
Australonycteris A. clarkae QM F19147, an isolated lower molar; QM F19149, dentary fragment; QM F19148, an isolated upper premolar; QM F19150, a fragment of a periotic. Oldest bat from the Southern Hemisphere and one of the oldest bats in the world.
"Chulpasia" "C". jimthorselli QM F50411, an isolated upper molar. A fossil traditionally referred to the paucituberculate Chulpasia, now thought to represent an unrelated marsupial.
Djarthia D. murgonensis QM F31458, dentary and maxillary fragments and isolated teeth; QM F31459 and QM F31460, dentary fragments; QM F52747, QM F52748 and QM F52749, isolated calcanea; QM F36397, QM F36393 and QM F32322, isolated petrosals. Originally thought to be a marsupial of uncertain affinities, now known to be a keeunamorphian.
Marsupialia Indeterminate QM F30060, an isolated calcaneus. A marsupial of uncertain affinities. May be attributable to 'Ameridelphia'.
Peramelemorphia? Indeterminate An isolated upper molar. Currently underscribed, but possibly represents the oldest peramelemorphian.
Tingamarra T. porterorum QM F20564, an isolated lower molar. Originally classified as a condylarth, now regarded as a mammal of uncertain affinities.
Thylacotinga T. bartholomaii QM F16835, QM F20804, QM F20803, QM F24120, QM F24194, QM F50407, QM F50408 and QM F24485, isolated upper molars; QM F16836, QM F50405, QM F50406, QM F23551, QM F50409 and QM F24333, isolated lower molars. Possibly a stem-diprotodontian.

Birds

Birds of Tingamarra
Genus Species Abundance Notes Images
QM specimens F20688 (carpometacarpus) and F24685 (tibiotarsus) from Murgon, Queensland, are fossil bone fragments clearly recognizable as passeriform; they represent two species of approximately some 10 and some 20 cm in overall length.
Presbyornithid material similar to Presbyornis.

References

  1. ↑ Scanlon, J. D. 2005. Australia's oldest known snakes: Patagoniophis, Alamitophis, and cf. Madtsoia (Squamata: Madtsoiidae) from the Eocene of Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum (Proceedings of the Conference of Australasian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics) v. 51, p. 215–223.
  2. ↑ Godthelp, H.; Archer, M.; Cifelli, R.; Hand, S. J.; Gilkeson, C. F. 1992. "Earliest known Australian Tertiary mammal fauna". Nature 359:514-516 doi:10.1038/356514a0
  3. ↑ "Tingamarra Alamitophis".
  4. ↑ Scanlon (2005)
  5. ↑ "Murgonemys braithwaitei".
  6. ↑ Beck, Robin M.D. (2013). "A peculiar faunivorous metatherian from the early Eocene of Australia". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 60 (1): 123−129. doi:10.4202/app.2013.0011.
  7. ↑ Hand, Suzanne; Novacek, Michael; Godthelp, Hank; Archer, Michael (1994). "First Eocene Bat from Australia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 14 (3): 375–381. doi:10.1080/02724634.1994.10011565. JSTOR 4523576.
  8. 1 2 Sigé, Bernard; Archer, Michael; Crochet, Jean-Yves; Godthelp, Hank; Hand, Suzanne; Beck, Robin (2009). "Chulpasia and Thylacotinga, late Paleocene-earliest Eocene trans-Antarctic Gondwanan bunodont marsupials: New data from Australia". Geobios. 42 (6): 813–823. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2009.08.001.
  9. ↑ A Brief History of South American Metatherians: Evolutionary Contexts and Intercontinental Dispersals
  10. ↑ Godthelp, Henk; Wroe, Stephen & Archer, Michael (1999). "A New Marsupial from the Early Eocene Tingamarra Local Fauna of Murgon, Southeastern Queensland: A Prototypical Australian Marsupial?". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 6 (3): 289–313. doi:10.1023/A:1020517808869. ISSN 1573-7055. S2CID 39325291.
  11. ↑ Beck, Robin M. D.; Godthelp, Henk; Weisbecker, Vera; Archer, Michael & Hand, Suzanne J. (2008). "Australia's Oldest Marsupial Fossils and their Biogeographical Implications". PLoS ONE. 3 (3) e1858. Public Library of Science. Bibcode:2008PLoSO...3.1858B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001858. PMC 2267999. PMID 18365013.
  12. ↑ Beck, Robin M. (2012). "An 'ameridelphian' marsupial from the early Eocene of Australia supports a complex model of Southern Hemisphere marsupial biogeography". The Science of Nature. 99 (9): 715–729. doi:10.1007/s00114-012-0953-x.
  13. ↑ Black, K. H.; Archer, M.; Hand, S. J.; Godthelp, H. (2012). "The Rise of Australian Marsupials: A Synopsis of Biostratigraphic, Phylogenetic, Palaeoecologic and Palaeobiogeographic Understanding". In Talent, J. A. (ed.). Earth and life: global biodiversity, extinction intervals and biogeographic perturbations through time. Springer Verlag. pp. 1040, 1047. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-3428-1_35. ISBN 978-90-481-3427-4.
  14. ↑ Godthelp, Henk; Archer, Michael; Cifelli, Richard; Hand, Suzanne J. & Gilkeson, Coral F. (1992). "Earliest known Australian Tertiary mammal fauna". Nature. 356 (6369): 514–516. Bibcode:1992Natur.356..514G. doi:10.1038/356514a0. S2CID 4338242.
  15. ↑ Archer, Michael; Godthelp, Hank; Hand, Suzanne J. (1993). "Early Eocene marsupial from Australia". Kaupia. 3: 193–200.
  16. ↑ Crichton, Arthur I.; Beck, Robin M. D.; Couzens, Aidan M. C.; Worthy, Trevor H.; Camens, Aaron B.; Prideaux, Gavin J. (4 September 2023). "A probable koala from the Oligocene of central Australia provides insights into early diprotodontian evolution". Scientific Reports. 13 (1): 14521. Bibcode:2023NatSR..1314521C. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-41471-0. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 10477348. PMID 37666885.
  17. ↑ Boles, Walter E. (1997): "Fossil Songbirds (Passeriformes) from the Early Eocene of Australia". Emu 97(1): 43-50. doi:10.1071/MU97004
  18. ↑ Vanesa L. De Pietri, R. Paul Scofield, Nikita Zelenkov, Walter E. Boles and Trevor H. Worthy (2016). "The unexpected survival of an ancient lineage of anseriform birds into the Neogene of Australia: the youngest record of Presbyornithidae". Royal Society Open Science. 3 (2): 150635. doi:10.1098/rsos.150635.

Further reading