Maokopia ronaldii Flannery, 1992

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonym/s: Maokopia ronaldi Flannery, 1992

Conservation Status

Extinct

Last record: c.20 ka

Distribution

New Guinea

Anatomy & Morphology

It weighed an estimated 100kg (Johnson & Prideaux, 2004:557; Johnson, 2006:18).

Biology & Ecology

It ate hard ferns and grasses (Johnson, 2006:18).

Hypodigm

Holotype: AMF83407 (partial skull)

Other specimens:

AM F100743 (Flannery, 1999:343)

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Flannery, Timothy F. (1992). New Pleistocene marsupials (Macropodidae, Diprotodontidae) from subalpine habitats in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 16(4): 321-331. [Abstract]

Other references:

Flannery, Timothy F. (1999). The Pleistocene mammal fauna of Kelangurr Cave, central montane Irian Jaya, Indonesia. In: Baynes, Alexander and Long, John A. (eds.). Papers in vertebrate palaeontology. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement No. 57: 341-350.

Hope, Geoffrey S., Flannery, Timothy F. and Boeadi. (1993). A preliminary report of changing Quaternary mammal faunas in subalpine New Guinea. Quaternary Research 40(1): 117-126. [Abstract]

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

Roberts, Richard G, Flannery, Timothy F., Ayliffe, Linda, Yoshida, Hiroyuki, Olley, Jon M., Prideaux, Gavin J., Laslett, Geoff M., Baynes, Alexander, Smith, M. A., Jones, Rhys I. and Smith, Barton L. (2001). New ages for the last Australian megafauna: Continent-wide extinction about 46,000 years ago. Science 292(5523): 1888-1892. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1060264

Smith F.A., Lyons S.K., Ernest S.K.M., Jones K.E., Kaufman D.M., Dayan T., Marquet P.A., Brown J.H., Haskell J.P. 2003 Body mass of late Quaternary mammals. Ecology 84(12), 3403-3403.

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. (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]

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