Procoptodon rapha Owen, 1874
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Halmaturus scottii Krefft, 1870; Halmatutherium scottii Krefft, 1882; Procoptodon texasensis Archer, 1978
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Late Pleistocene
Distribution
Australia
Anatomy & Morphology
It weighed an estimated 150kg (Johnson & Prideaux, 2004:557; Johnson, 2006:19).
Biology & Ecology
It was a browser or mixed feeder (Johnson, 2006:19).
Hypodigm
Holotype: F19652 (Dawson, 1985:66)
Type locality: "coIl. Krefft, 1869, Breccia Cave" (Dawson, 1985:66)
Other specimens:
UCMP 57385 (Dawson, 1985:66)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Owen, Richard. (1874). On the fossil mammals of Australia. Part IX. Family Macropodidae: Genera Macropus, Pachyiagon, Leptosiagon, Procoptodon and Palorchestes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 164: 783-803.
Other references:
Archer, Michael. (1978). Quaternary vertebrate faunas from the Texas Caves of southeastern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 19(1): 61-109.
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.
Davis, A. C. and Ride, W. D. L. (2000). Procoptodon Owen, 1874 (Mammalia, Marsupialia) and the specific names P. rapha Owen, 1874 and P. pusio Owen, 1874: proposed conservation. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 57: 103-107.
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.
Johnson, Chris N. (2006). Australia's Mammal Extinctions: A 50 000 Year History. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press. x + 278 pp. [p. 19]
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
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.
Marcus, L. F. 1976. The Bingara Fauna: a Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from Murchison County, New South Wales, Australia. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 114:1-145.
Marshall, L. G. (1974). Late Pleistocene mammals from the 'Keilor Cranium Site', southwestern Victoria, Australia. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria 13: 63-85.
Molnar, R. E., and C. Kurz. 1997. The distribution of Pleistocene vertebrates on the eastern Darling Downs, based on the Queensland Museum collections. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 117:107-134.
Murray, P. F. (1991). The Pleistocene megafauna of Australia, pp. 1071-1164. In: Vickers-Rich, P., Monaghan, J. M., Baird, R. F., and Rich, T. H. Vertebrate Palaeontology of Australiasia. Lilydale, Victoria: Pioneer Design Studio.
Pledge, Neville S. (1990). The Upper Fossil Fauna of the Henschke Fossil Cave, Naracoorte, South Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum (Proceedings of the De Vis Symposium) 28(1): 247-262.
Prideaux, Gavin J. (2004). Systematics and evolution of the sthenurine kangaroos. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 146:i±xviii, 1±623.
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.
Scott, H. H. (1906). Memoir on Procoptodon rapha (Owen) from King Island. Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston. Pamphlet (2 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. (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]
Van Huet, Sanja. (1999). The taphonomy of the Lancefield swamp megafaunal accumulation, Lancefield, Victoria. In: Baynes, Alexander and Long, John A. (eds.). Papers in vertebrate palaeontology. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 57: 331-340.
Wells, Rod T. (1975). Reconstructing the Past: Excavations in Fossil Caves. Australian Natural History 18(6): 208-211.
Wells, Rod T., Moriarty, K. and Williams, D. L. G. (1984). The fossil vertebrate deposits of Victoria Fossil Cave Naracoorte: an introduction to the geology and fauna. The Australian Zoologist 21(4): 305-333.