''Bohra'' is an extinct genus of macropod from the

Plio-Pleistocene The Plio-Pleistocene is an informally described geological pseudo-period, which begins about 5 million years ago (Mya) and, drawing forward, combines the time ranges of the formally defined Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs—marking from about 5&n ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is closely related to modern tree kangaroos (''Dendrolagus''), and like them is thought to have had an

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

lifestyle, with some species of ''Bohra'' substantially exceeding living tree kangaroos in size.

Taxonomy

The type species, ''Bohra paulae'' was first described in 1982 from material found in

Wellington Caves The Wellington Caves are a group of limestone caves located south of Wellington, New South Wales, Australia. History The Wellington region was long inhabited by the 'Binjang mob' of the Wiradjuri, Wiradjuri people. While there is no direct ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. Bohra is the name of a legendary kangaroo of the

Euahlayi The Yuwaalaraay, also spelt Euahlayi, Euayelai, Eualeyai, Ualarai, Yuwaaliyaay and Yuwallarai, are an Aboriginal Australian people of north-western New South Wales. Name and language The ethnonym derives from their word for "no" () to which ...

tribe from New South Wales. Bohra was said to walk on all four limbs and possessed sharp canine teeth before being removed by men. Living tree-kangaroos share similar proportions between the front and hind limbs. Three other species have been described: ''Bohra wilkinsonorum'' from southeastern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

in 2004, ''Bohra illuminata'' from south-central Australia in 2008, and ''Bohra nullarbora'' from

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

in 2009. ''Bohra'' is considered a

plesiomorphic In phylogenetics, a plesiomorphy ("near form") and symplesiomorphy are synonyms for an ancestral character shared by all members of a clade, which does not distinguish the clade from other clades. Plesiomorphy, symplesiomorphy, apomorphy, an ...

sister taxon to the living

tree-kangaroos Tree-kangaroos are marsupials of the genus ''Dendrolagus'', adapted for arboreal locomotion. They inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and far northeastern Queensland, Australia along with some of the islands in the region. All tree- ...

''(Dendrolagus)''.

Description

Some species of ''Bohra'' like ''Bohra paula'' and ''Bohra wilkinsonorum'' were much larger than any tree-kangaroo, with estimated body masses of . They many similarities with tree-kangaroos in their cranio-dental and hind limb morphology, and in spite of its size, shows many of the same arboreal adaptations as its living relatives. Among the similarities are the

calcaneus In humans and many other primates, the calcaneus (; from the Latin ''calcaneus'' or ''calcaneum'', meaning heel; : calcanei or calcanea) or heel bone is a bone of the Tarsus (skeleton), tarsus of the foot which constitutes the heel. In some other ...

being flat and broad with the cuboid articulation not being stepped and the height-to-width ratio of the articulation being much smaller than in that of other types of kangaroos. Compared to living tree kangaroos, the species of ''Bohra'' are distinguished by proportionally larger cheek teeth and longer upper incisors. Remains of ''Bohra illuminata'' also show morphological similarities to rock wallabies ''(Petrogale)''; recent molecular studies suggest that rock wallabies are the closest living relatives of tree-kangaroos, further proving ''Bohra'' is of close relation to these groups.

Distribution and habitat

''Bohra wilkinsonorum'' is the oldest species (

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

age. All species of ''Bohra'' inhabited regions more southerly than any tree-kangaroo, including the now treeless

Nullarbor plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...

. Given the arboreal nature of ''Bohra'', it seems many regions of Australia were able to better support tree cover in the recent past. The youngest records of ''Bohra'' dates to around the Late Pleistocene, though the precise timing of extinction is uncertain due to a lack of precise dating on remains, though they may have persisted as recently as 22,000 years ago based on ''Dendrolagus''-like DNA found in indeterminate bone fragments from Tunnel Cave in Southwestern Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21446418 Prehistoric macropods Pliocene mammals of Australia Pleistocene mammals of Australia Pleistocene extinctions Prehistoric marsupial genera