Metasthenurus newtonae (Prideaux, 2000)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Simosthenurus newtonae Prideaux, 2000 (basionym)
"This taxon is characterised by a P3 that is short for its width and inflated anterobuccally, and thus only slightly wider posteriorly than anteriorly. It also has a large posterobuccal accessory cusp."
(Matthews et al., 2025)
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Late Pleistocene
Distribution
Australia
Anatomy & Morphology
It weighed an estimated 55kg (Johnson & Prideaux, 2004:557; Johnson, 2006:18).
Biology & Ecology
It was a browser (Johnson, 2006:18).
Hypodigm
FU2845 (left P3) (Matthews et al., 2025)
FU2925 (posterior portion of left P3) (Matthews et al., 2025)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Prideaux, Gavin J. (2000). Simosthenurus newtonae sp. nov., a widespread sthenurine kangaroo (Diprodontia: Macropodidae) from the Pleistocene of southern and eastern Australia. Records of the South Australian Museum 33: 1-15.
Other references:
Armand, L., Ride, W. D. L. and Taylor, G. (2000). The stratigraphy and palaeontology of Teapot Creek, MacLaughlin River, NSW. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 122: 101-121.
Ayliffe, L. K., G. J. Prideaux, M. I. Bird, R. Grün, R. G. Roberts, G. A. Gully, R. Jones, L. K. Fifield, and R. G. Cresswell. (2008). Age constraints on Pleistocene megafauna at Tight Entrance Cave in southwestern Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 27: 1784-1788.
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
Matthews, Roger L., Fusco, Diana A., Gully, Grant A., Arnold, Lee, J., Demuro, Martina, Spooner, Nigel A., Wells, Roderick T. and Prideaux, Gavin J. (2025). Kiana Cliff: a new fossil vertebrate site of probable last interglacial age from Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. https://doi.org/10.1080/03721426.2025.2452015
Pate, F. Donald, McDowell, Matthew C., Wells, Rod T. and Smith, Andrew M. (2002). Last recorded evidence for megafauna at Wet Cave, Naracoorte, South Australia 45,000 years ago. Australian Archaeology 54: 53-55.
Piper, K. J. (2006). A new species of Palorchestidae (Marsupialia) from the Pliocene and early Pleistocene of Victoria. Alcheringa Special Issue 1: 281-294.
Prideaux, Gavin J. (2004). Systematics and evolution of the sthenurine kangaroos. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 146: i-xviii, 1-623.
Prideaux, G. J., R. G. Roberts, D. Megirian, K. E. Westaway, J. C. Hellstrom, and J. M. Olley. (2007). Mammalian responses to Pleistocene climate change in southeastern Australia. Geology 35: 33-36.
Prideaux, Gavin J. et al. (2010). Timing and dynamics of Late Pleistocene mammal extinctions in southwestern Australia. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107(51): 22157-22162.
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.
Reed, Elizabeth H. and Bourne, Steven J. (2009). Pleistocene Fossil Vertebrate Sites of the South East Region of South Australia II. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 133(1): 30-40.
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
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]
Turney, Chris S. M., Flannery, Timothy F., Roberts, Richard G., Reid, Craig, Fifield, L. Keith, Higham, Tom F. G., Jacobs, Zenobia, Kemp, Noel, Colhoun, Eric A., Kalin, Robert M. and Ogle, Neil. (2008). Late-surviving megafauna in Tasmania, Australia, implicate human involvement in their extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 105(34): 12150-12153.
ftp://rock.geosociety.org/pub/reposit/2007/2007016.pdf