Hulitherium tomasettii Flannery & Plane, 1986
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Hulitherium thomassetti Flannery & Plane, 1986 [orth. error used by Sutton et al., 2009]
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Late Pleistocene [U-series minimum age of 54.6 ± 1.6 (Prideaux et al., 2022)]
Distribution
Pureni, New Guinea
Anatomy & Morphology
A mass of 150kg was given by (Johnson & Prideaux, 2004:557; Johnson, 2006:18).
Biology & Ecology
Suggestions that Hulitherium was an example of a convergent bamboo-eater with the panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), hence its common name of Marsupial panda, are untested (White et al., 2021). Instead, it was likely a generalised browser capable of reaching higher vegetation given its large size (Ibid.). Bamboo may still have comprised part of its diet (Johnson, 2006:18; White et al., 2021).
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Flannery, Timothy F. and Plane, M. (1986). A new late Pleistocene diprotodontid (Marsupialia) from Pureni, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. Bur. Min. Res. J. Aust. Geol. Geophys. 10: 65-76.
Other references:
Black, K. (2008). Diversity, Phylogeny and Biostatigraphy of Diprotodontoids (Marsupialia: Diprotodontidae, Palorchestidae) from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area. University of New South Wales. Unpublished thesis.
Flannery, Timothy F. (1987). The mountain diprotodontid Hulitherium tomasettii, pp. 65-67. In: Hand, S. and Archer, M. (eds.). The Antipodean Ark. North Ryde: Angus and Robertson.
Flannery, Timothy F. (1994). The fossil land mammal record of New Guinea: A review. Science in New Guinea 20: 39-48.
Flannery, Timothy F. (1995). Mammals of New Guinea. 2nd ed. Chatswood, N.S.W.: Reed Books.
Johnson, Chris N. (2006). Australia's Mammal Extinctions: A 50 000 Year History. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press. x + 278 pp. [p. 18]
Johnson, Chris N. and Prideaux, Gavin J. (2004). Extinctions of herbivorous mammals in the late Pleistocene of Australia in relation to their feeding ecology: no evidence for environmental change as cause of extinction. Australian Ecology 29: 553-557. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2004.01389.x
Menzies J. I. and Ballard, C. (1994). Some new records of Pleistocene megafauna from New Guinea. Sci. New Guinea 20: 113-139.
Murray, Peter F. (1992). The smallest New Guinea zygomaturines derived dwarfs or relict plesiomorphs? Beagle: The Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 9: 89-110. [Abstract]
Prideaux, Gavin J. et al. (2022). Re-evaluating the evidence for late-surviving megafauna at Nombe rockshelter in the New Guinea highlands. Archaeology in Oceania. doi:10.1002/arco.5274
Sutton, Alice, Mountain, Mary-Jane, Aplin, Ken, Bulmer, Susan and Denham, Tim. (2009). Archaeozoological records for the highlands of New Guinea: a review of current evidence. Australian Archaeology 69: 41-58.
Travouillon, Kenny J., Jackson, Stephen, Beck, Robin M. D., Louys, Julien, Cramb, Jonathan, Gillespie, Anna, Black, Karen, Hand, Suzanne, Archer, Michael, Kear, Benjamin, Hocknull, Scott, Phillips, Matthew, McDowell, Matthew, Fitzgerald, Erich M. G., Brewer, Phillipa and Price, Gilbert J. (2024). Checklist of the Fossil Mammal Species of Australia and New Guinea. Available from: https://www.australasianpalaeontologists.com/national-fossil-species-lists [Accessed 24 November 2024]
White, Joshua M., DeSantis, Larisa R. G., Evans, Alistair Evans, Wilson, Laura A. B. and McCurry, Matthew R. (2021). A panda-like diprotodontid? Assessing the diet of Hulitherium tomasettii using dental complexity (Orientation Patch Count Rotated) and dental microwear texture analysis. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 583: 110675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110675 [Abstract]
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