An exceptionally well-preserved short-snouted bandicoot (Marsupialia; Peramelemorphia) from Riversleigh's Oligo-Miocene deposits, northwestern Queensland, Australia

ABSTRACT

We describe Galadi speciosus, gen. et sp nov., the second peramelemorphian (Yarala burchfieldi being the first) to be described from Oligo-Miocene deposits of Riversleigh World Heritage Property, northwestern Queensland. G. speciosus is represented by relatively complete craniodental material, including an exceptionally well-preserved skull. This taxon exhibits several apomorphies that clearly place it in the order Peramelemorphia, but it appears to be more plesiomorphic than any modern bandicoot. We present the first morphological phylogenetic analyses of Peramelemorphia, using 51 craniodental characters. Our analyses recover Yarala and Galadi speciosus outside crown group Peramelemorphia, with G. speciosus weakly supported as the sister taxon of the crown group. The craniodental morphology of G. speciosus, particularly its robust skull and proportionately short and broad snout, suggests that it filled a different ecological niche to extant bandicoots. We hypothesize that G. speciosus occupied a predominantly faunivorous, dasyurid-like niche in the Oligo-Miocene rainforests of Riversleigh, at a time when dasyurids appear to have been relatively rare.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Support for research at Riversleigh has come from the Australian Research Council (grants DP0453262, LP0453664, and LP0989969 to Mike Archer and Sue Hand at the University of New South Wales); XSTRATA Community Partnership Program (North Queensland); the University of New South Wales; the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service; Environment Australia; the Queensland Museum; the Australian Museum; the Riversleigh Society Inc.; Outback at Isa; Mount Isa City Council; and private supporters, including Elaine Clark, Margaret Beavis, Martin Dickson, Sue and Jim Lavarack, and Sue and Don Scott-Orr. Assistance in the field has come from many hundreds of volunteers as well as staff and postgraduate students of the University of New South Wales. Financial support for this study has been provided by the CREATE Fund (UNSW) established by Phil Creaser and by NSF grant DEB-0743039 to R. Beck (in collaboration with Rob Voss at the AMNH). Many thanks to Mike Archer, Suzanne Hand, Henk Godthelp, and Trevor Worthy for allowing access to the material, and their help and feedback. We would also like to thank Sandy Ingleby for allowing access to the Australian Museum mammal collection, Leah Schwartz for the photos of Yarala kida, and Katie Huang for the reconstruction of Galadi speciosus. We thank the UNSW Palaeo Lab for their support and Rob Asher, Vera Weisbecker, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments.