Cosmos
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By Cosmos
A complete model of Thylacoleo, Australia’s once-fearsome carnivorous marsupial lion, including its missing tail bone and other anatomical features of the backbone has been created by Flinders University Palaeontology researchers.
Flinders University Emeritus Professor Rod Wells, was one of the first explorers to discover the scientifically important fossil more than 50 years ago. A partial reconstruction has been on public display in a cave at Naracoorte in the south east of South Australia near where it was found.
“More recent discoveries at Naracoorte in 2006, and caves on the Nullarbor in Western Australia in 2010, have finally allowed us to assemble the first complete skeleton of Thylacoleo,” says Wells.
This includes the missing tail.
“This re-assessment of the biomechanics and behaviour has showcased a dramatic picture of this ferocious ambush predator,” Wells says.
“Thylacoleo was among the first megafauna skeletons discovered in a quarry at Naracoorte in the 1950s. Then in 1969 the Victoria Cave chamber yielded sufficient articulated remains of Thylacoleo to reconstruct most of the skeleton.
“Casts of these bones by volunteer, the late Edwin Bailey, formed the partial skeleton that has been on display at the Victoria Fossil Cave for many years.
The limestone caves at Naracoorte in the south-east of South Australia, have acted as pitfall traps for at least 500,000 years, preserving some of the most complete fossils spanning several ice ages and the arrival of humans in the area when Australia’s megafauna reigned, including the apex predator Thylacoleo carnifex (known as the marsupial lion).
The new cast, built by Flinders University Palaeontology Lab technical officer Carey Burke, with student volunteers, as well as scans taken by PhD student Jacob van Zoulen, features a small replica in an ambush posture.
“We recast some of the original moulds and made the new mount based on a 3D model of the Nullarbor skeleton and recast new hands and caudal vertebrates to match the latest fossil record research,” says Burke.
Thylacoleo carnifex is commonly referred to as a marsupial lion, largely because of the cat-like nature of its skull and its carnivorous habits. Weighing around 120 kg, the largest mammalian predator on the Australian continent was capable of grasping or slashing its prey with the long sharp claws on its semi-opposable thumb, then stabbing or strangling with its large incisor teeth.
These animals were relatively common across most of Australia during the Pleistocene period and became extinct about 50,000 years ago. Its evolutionary history has been traced back to the ancient rainforests of Riversleigh in Queensland, some 25 million years ago.
A version of this article first appeared at Flinders University News
Australia’s marsupial lion
