Re: Australia: Fossil Marsupial Finds

[Brian Choo <ozraptor@global.net.au>]

Yes the material totally out of this world!!! That horned macropod is truly
freaky.

However after making a cursory look at the dentition of the current display
specimen I'd be willing to put money down that these marsupial lions are
NOT carnifex... Thylacoleo sp. certainly though.

John has come to a similar conclusion so I won't steal his thunder.

Will try and get some photos online in a few weeks.

Happy for once to be West Australian...
Brian

 Long was able to
>extract samples of DNA from the pulp cavity of one of the marsupial lions
>(Thylacoleo carnifex, as well as other soft tissue, hair and even blowfly
>remains, all of which have been sent to a laboratory in the UK for
>molecular analysis.
>


>Nice pic too.
>
>http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992607
>
>Eight complete skeletons of prehistoric marsupial lions are among an
>astonishing menagerie of megafauna fossils discovered in a hidden cave in
>Australia's outback desert. Only partial skeletons have been found before.
>
>Among the creatures, all of which are now extinct, are extremely
>well-preserved partial skeletons of giant wombats (Phascolonus gigas) and
>a three metre-tall short-faced giant kangaroo (Procoptodon goliah). A
>smaller unidentified kangaroo with strange horn-like protrusions on its
>skull may well represent a new species.
>
>John Long, a vertebrate palaeontologist at the Western Australian Museum
>in Perth told New Scientist: "It's truly a phenomenal find. ..."
>
>Three species of Sthenurus kangaroo and two Tasmanian tigers (Thylacine),
>were also found in the deep caves. These appear to have acted as death
>traps for passing animals over thousands of years.
>...
>Precise dating has only just begun, but Long says the site easily fitted
>into the Pleistocene, between 1.75 million and 46,000 years ago.
>
>Most of the fossils were uncovered in dry and dark conditions ideal for
>their preservation. In fact, so well preserved that Long was able to
>extract samples of DNA from the pulp cavity of one of the marsupial lions
>(Thylacoleo carnifex, as well as other soft tissue, hair and even blowfly
>remains, all of which have been sent to a laboratory in the UK for
>molecular analysis.
>
>Scientists hope the extracted DNA might help settle a debate about whether
>marsupial lions are descended from possums or from wombats - a hotly
>debated point in megafauna evolution.