A new fossil genus of forest wallaby (Marsupialia, Macropodinae) and a review of Protemnodon from eastern Australia and New Guinea

Abstract

A new macropodine genus and species, Silvaroo bila, is described from the Pliocene Chinchilla Sand of Queensland. The generic concept of Protemnodon is reviewed, and it is concluded that two Pliocene species previously placed in that genus (bandharr and buloloensis) belong in Silvaroo. Species of Silvaroo resemble the modern forest wallabies of Papua New Guinea (species of Dorcopsis and Dorcopsulus) and also bear close phenetic resemblance to the late Miocene Dorcopsoides fossilis. Forest wallabies are not known from mainland Australia after the middle Pliocene, but occur in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene of New Guinea.

Key words:

• forest wallaby
• Dorcopsis
• Protemnodon
• Macropodinae
• Pliocene
• palaeoecology