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Simosthenurus Occidentalis
''Simosthenurus occidentalis'' is a species of sthenurine marsupial ("short-faced kangaroo") that existed in Australia during the Pliocene, becoming extinct in the Pleistocene epoch around 42,000 years ago. It was a large herbivorous biped that resembles large kangaroos, but with a heavier body than modern kangaroos. The structure of the skull and teeth - resembling koalas and panda bears - indicates that it consumed tough vegetation. Taxonomy The type specimen was collected by E. A. Le Souef and noted in a report to the state's Caves Board, then revised and published by Ludwig Glauert as ''Sthenurus occidentalis'' in 1910. This holotype is fossil material preserving the left and right dentary of an adult found at Mammoth Cave in Southwest Australia. The specific epithet ''occidentalis'', meaning "of the west", refers to the discovery of this species in Western Australia. Description A mid-sized species of ''Simosthenurus'', known as 'short-faced' kangaroos, one of several gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sthenurine
Sthenurinae (from ''Sthenurus'', Greek for 'strong-tailed') is a subfamily within the marsupial family Macropodidae, known as 'short faced kangaroos'. No members of this subfamily are extant today, with all becoming extinct by the late Pleistocene. ''Procoptodon goliah'', the largest macropodid known to have existed, was a sthenurine kangaroo, but sthenurines occurred in a range of sizes, with ''Procoptodon gilli'' being the smallest at the size of a small wallaby. The short, robust skull of sthenurines is considered to be indicative that they were browsers that fed on leaves. Some species may have been able to reach above their heads and grasp branches with their semiopposable paws to assist in procuring leaves from trees. A single hoofed digit is present on the feet of sthenurines. Taxonomy The subfamilial arrangement Sthenurinae was circumscribed by Ludwig Glauert in 1926. Locomotion Unlike modern macropodids, which hop (either bipedally or quadrupedally), sthenurines seem to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Glauert
Ludwig Glauert MBE (5 May 1879 – 1 February 1963) was a British-born Australian paleontologist, herpetologist and museum curator. He is known for work on Pleistocene mammal fossils, and as a museum curator who played an important role in natural science of Western Australia. Glauert was born in Ecclesall, Sheffield, England. His father was Johann Ernst Louis Henry Glauert, merchant and cutlery manufacturer, and his mother was Amanda, née Watkinson. He was educated in Sheffield at Sheffield Royal Grammar School, at Firth University College and the Technical School, studying geology, becoming a Fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1900.Jenkins, C.F.H., 'Glauert, Ludwig (1879–1963), Museum Curator', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 9, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1983, pp. 25–2/ref> In 1908 he and his wife migrated to Perth, Western Australia, where he joined the Geological Survey there as a pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58See the 2014 version of the ICS geologic time scale million years ago. It is the second and most recent epoch of the Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch. Prior to the 2009 revision of the geologic time scale, which placed the fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek grc, label=none, πλεῖστος, pleīstos, most and grc, label=none, καινός, kainós (latinized as ), 'new'. At the end of the preceding Pliocene, the previously isolated North and South American continents were joined by the Isthmus of Panama, causing a faunal interchange between the t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mammoth Cave (Western Australia)
Mammoth Cave is a large limestone cave south of the town of Margaret River in south-western Western Australia, and about south of Perth. It lies within the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park and is surrounded by karri and marri forest. There have been extinct animal fossils found in Mammoth Cave. Exploration The cave is long and deep. It has been known from about 1850 to European settlers of the Margaret River district, but it was not explored until 1895. Its first explorer, Tim Connelly, who was appointed caretaker of the cave, conducted tours by lamplight until 1904 when electric lighting was installed. Fossils The cave has been studied for over a century. It has yielded fossils of Pleistocene fauna over 35,000 years old, including those of thylacines and the giant marsupial herbivore ''Zygomaturus ''Zygomaturus'' is an extinct genus of giant marsupial belonging to the family Diprotodontidae which inhabited Australia from the Late Miocene to Late Pleistocene. D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southwest Australia (ecoregion)
Southwest Australia is a biogeographic region in Western Australia. It includes the Mediterranean-climate area of southwestern Australia, which is home to a diverse and distinctive flora and fauna. The region is also known as the Southwest Australia Global Diversity Hotspot, as well as Kwongan. Geography The region includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of Western Australia. The region covers 356,717 km2, consisting of a broad coastal plain 20-120 kilometres wide, transitioning to gently undulating uplands made up of weathered granite, gneiss and laterite. Bluff Knoll in the Stirling Range is the highest peak in the region, at 1,099 metres (3,606 ft) elevation. Desert and xeric shrublands lie to the north and east across the centre of Australia, separating Southwest Australia from the other Mediterranean and humid-climate regions of the continent. Climate The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate, one of five such regi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simosthenurus Occidentalis
''Simosthenurus occidentalis'' is a species of sthenurine marsupial ("short-faced kangaroo") that existed in Australia during the Pliocene, becoming extinct in the Pleistocene epoch around 42,000 years ago. It was a large herbivorous biped that resembles large kangaroos, but with a heavier body than modern kangaroos. The structure of the skull and teeth - resembling koalas and panda bears - indicates that it consumed tough vegetation. Taxonomy The type specimen was collected by E. A. Le Souef and noted in a report to the state's Caves Board, then revised and published by Ludwig Glauert as ''Sthenurus occidentalis'' in 1910. This holotype is fossil material preserving the left and right dentary of an adult found at Mammoth Cave in Southwest Australia. The specific epithet ''occidentalis'', meaning "of the west", refers to the discovery of this species in Western Australia. Description A mid-sized species of ''Simosthenurus'', known as 'short-faced' kangaroos, one of several gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simosthenurus
''Simosthenurus,'' also referred to as the short-faced kangaroo, is an extinct genus of megafaunal macropods that existed in Australia, specifically Tasmania, during the Pleistocene. Analysis of ''Simosthenurus'' fossils has contributed to the finding that there are three lineages of macropods: Sthenurinae, Macropodinae, and Lagostrophinae. The genus ''Simosthenurus'' was among the sthenurines. The two most documented members of the genus are ''S. maddocki'' and ''S. occidentalis'', though other species have also been discovered. Palaeobiology Osteological information (predominantly cave floor surface finds) has yielded that ''Simosthenurus'' is part of the same family as that of modern kangaroos. However, modern kangaroos are plantigrade hoppers, using jumping as their means of locomotion, while ''Simosthenurus'' was a bipedal unguligrade, walking in a manner similar to that of hominids. Although members of ''Simosthenurus'' were no taller than most modern species of kanga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phascolarctos Cinereus
The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the wombats. The koala is found in coastal areas of the mainland's eastern and southern regions, inhabiting Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is easily recognisable by its stout, tailless body and large head with round, fluffy ears and large, spoon-shaped nose. The koala has a body length of and weighs . Fur colour ranges from silver grey to chocolate brown. Koalas from the northern populations are typically smaller and lighter in colour than their counterparts further south. These populations possibly are separate subspecies, but this is disputed. Koalas typically inhabit open ''Eucalyptus'' woodland, as the leaves of these trees make up most of their diet. Because this eucalypt diet has limited nutritional and calo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ailuropoda Melanoleuca
The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the red panda, a neighboring musteloid. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda is a folivore, with bamboo shoots and leaves making up more than 99% of its diet. Giant pandas in the wild occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents, or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food. The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan, and also in neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu. As a result of farming, deforestation, and other development, the giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived, and it is a conservati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Island (Tasmania)
King Island is an island in the Bass Strait, belonging to the Australian state of Tasmania. It is the largest of three islands known as the New Year Group, and the second-largest island in Bass Strait (after Flinders Island). The island's population at the was 1,585 people, up from 1,566 in 2011. The local government area of the island is the King Island Council. The island forms part of the official land divide between the Great Australian Bight and Bass Strait, off the north-western tip of Tasmania and about halfway to the mainland state of Victoria. The southernmost point is Stokes Point and the northernmost point is Cape Wickham. There are three small islands immediately offshore: New Year Island and Christmas Island situated to the northwest, and a smaller island Councillor Island to the east, opposite Sea Elephant Beach. King Island was first visited by Europeans in the late 18th century. It was named after Philip Gidley King, Colonial Governor of New South Wales ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species Described In 1910
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes in zoological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
