''Bulungu'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

bandicoot Bandicoots are a group of more than 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial, largely nocturnal marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia. They are endemic to the Australia–New Guinea region, including the Bismarck Archipela ...

-like mammal from Oligo-

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

deposits of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, and the Etadunna Formation,

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 was first named by Gurovich ''et al.'' (2013) and the type species is ''Bulungu palara''. Two additional species, ''Bulungu campbelli'' and ''Bulungu minkinaensis'', were also described in 2013. ''Bulungu muirheadae'' is the oldest fossil bandicoot recovered to date. An additional three species ''Bulungu minkinaensis'', ''Bulungu pinpaensis'', and ''Bulungu westermani'' were named by Travouillon, Beck & Case (

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

) allowing for placement of the genus in the superfamily

Yaraloidea ''Yarala'' is a genus of fossil mammals that resemble contemporary bandicoots. The superfamily Yaraloidea and family Yaralidae were created following the discovery of the type species ''Yarala burchfieldi'' in 1995, on the basis that it lacks syn ...

References

Peramelemorphs Oligocene marsupials Prehistoric mammals of Australia Miocene marsupials Fossil taxa described in 2013 Riversleigh fauna Prehistoric marsupial genera {{paleo-marsupial-stub