Palorchestes parvus De Vis, 1895
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Late Pleistocene
Distribution
Australia
Anatomy & Morphology
It weighed an estimated 100kg (Johnson, 2006:19).
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Lectotype: QM F783 (left mandibular fragment) (Louys & Price, 2015:557)
F30645 (Dawson, 1985:66)
F30646 (Dawson, 1985:66)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
De Vis, Charles W. (1895). A review of the fossil jaws of the Macropodidae in the Queensland Museum. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 10: 74-134.
Other references:
Bartholomai, A. (1975). The genus Macropus Shaw (Marsupialia: Macropodidae) in the Upper Cainozoic deposits of Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 17: 373-377.
Bartholomai, Alan. (1977). The fossil vertebrate fauna from Pleistocene deposits at Cement Mills, Gore, Southeastern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 18(1): 41-51.
Dawson, Lyndall. (1985). Marsupial fossils from Wellington Caves, New South Wales; the historic and scientific significance of the collections in the Australia Museum, Sydney. Records of the Australian Museum 37(2): 55-69.
Flannery, Timothy F. and Archer, Michael. (1985). Palorchestes Owen, 1874: Large and Small Palorchestids, pp. 234-239. In: Vickers-Rich, Patricia and van Tets, Gerard Frederick. (eds.). Kadimakara: Extinct Vertebrates of Australia. Lilydale, Victoria: Pioneer Design Studio. 284 pp.
Hocknull, Scott A. (2005a). Ecological succession during the late Cainozoic of central eastern Queensland: extinction of adiverse rainforest community. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 51(1): 39-122. [automatic download]
Johnson, Chris N. (2006). Australia's Mammal Extinctions: A 50 000 Year History. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press. x + 278 pp. [p. 19]
Louys, Julien and Price, Gilbert J. (2015). The Chinchilla Local Fauna: An exceptionally rich and well-preserved Pliocene vertebrate assemblage from fluviatile deposits of south-eastern Queensland, Australia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 60(3): 551-572. https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00042.2013
Mahoney, J. A. and Ride, W. D. L. (1975). Index to the genera and species of fossil Mammalia described from Australia and New Guinea between 1838 and 1968. Western Australian Museum Special Publication 6: 1-250.
Price, Gilbert J. and Hocknull, Scott A. (2005). A small adult Palorchestes (Marsupialia, Palorchestidae) from the Pleistocene of the Darling Downs, southeast Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 51: 202.
Price, Gilbert J. et al. (2011). Dating megafaunal extinction on the Pleistocene Darling Downs, eastern Australia: The promise and pitfalls of dating as a test of extinction hypotheses. Quat. Sci. Rev. 30(7-8): 899-914.
Reed, Elizabeth H. and Bourne, Steven J. (2000). Pleistocene fossil vertebrate sites of the south east region of South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 124(2): 61-90.
Rich, T.H., Archer, M., Hand, S.J., Godthelp, H., Muirhead, J., Pledge, N.S., Flannery, T.F., Woodburne, M.O., Case, J.A., Tedford, R.H., Turnbull, W.D., Lundelius, E.L., Jr., Rich, L.S.V., Whitelaw, M.J., Kemp, A., and Rich, P.V. (1991). Appendix 1. Australian Mesozoic and Tertiary terrestrial mammal localities. In: P.V. Rich, J.M. Monaghan, R.F. Baird, and T.H. Rich (eds.), Vertebrate Palaeontology of Australasia, 1005-1007. Pioneer Design Studio, Monash University Publications Committee, Melbourne.
Richards, Hazel L. et al. (2022). Inferring the palaeobiology of palorchestid marsupials through analysis of mammalian humeral and femoral shape. Journal of Mammalian Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-022-09640-6
Richards HL, Wells RT, Evans AR, Fitzgerald EMG, Adams JW (2019) The extraordinary osteology and functional morphology of the limbs in Palorchestidae, a family of strange extinct marsupial giants. PLoS ONE 14(9): e0221824.
Taçon, Paul S. C. and Webb, Steve. (2017). Art and megafauna in the Top End of the Northern Territory, Australia: Illusion or reality?, pp. 145-161. In: David, Bruno et al. (eds.). Terra Australis 47. Acton, A.C.T.: ANU Press. xxvi + 499 pp.
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. (2023). Checklist of the Fossil Mammal Species of Australia and New Guinea. Available from: https://www.australasianpalaeontologists.com/national-fossil-species-lists [Accessed 2 March 2025]
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]
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. (2025). Checklist of the Fossil Mammal Species of Australia and New Guinea. Available from: https://www.australasianpalaeontologists.com/national-fossil-species-lists [Accessed 1 March 2025]
Woods, J. T. (1958). The extinct marsupial genus Palorchestes Owen. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 13: 177-193.
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