Protemnodon tumbuna Flannery, Mountain & Aplin, 1983
Ancestral wallaby
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Protemnodon hopei Flannery, 1992 [synonymised by Kerr et al., 2024:141]
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 25.1 ± 0.6 (U-series minimum age) (Prideaux et al., 2022); 25ka-14.5ka (Sutton et al., 2009)
Distribution
New Guinea
Anatomy & Morphology
It weighed an estimated 50kg (Johnson & Prideaux, 2004:557; Johnson, 2006:18).
Biology & Ecology
It was a browser (Johnson, 2006:18).
Hypodigm
A report of a dp3 of a likely undescribed Protemnodon sp. by (Koungoulos et al., 2024), is probably an m1 of P. tumbuna (Kerr et al., 2024:194).
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Flannery, Timothy F., Mountain, Mary-Jane and Aplin, Ken. (1983). Quaternary kangaroos (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) from Nombe rock shelter, Papua New Guinea, with comments on the nature of megafaunal extinction in the New Guinea highlands. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 107(2): 75-97.
Other references:
Flannery T. F. (1983). Quaternary kangaroos (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) from Nombe Rock Shelter, Papua New Guinea, with comments on the nature of megafaunal extinction in the New Guinea Highlands. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 107: 75-97.
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. https://doi.org/10.1080/03115519208619113
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.
Helgen, Kristofer M., Wells, Rod T., Kear, Benjamin P., Gerdtz, Wayne R. and Flannery, Timothy F. (2006). Ecological and evolutionary significance of sizes of giant extinct kangaroos. Australian Journal of Zoology 54(4): 293-303. [body weight estimate as P. hopei]
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
Jones, Billie, Janis, Christine and Rayfield, Emily. (2020). Limb proportions indicate Protemnodon’s locomotion was divergent from modern large macropodines. Poster presentation (abstract), p. 46. In: Progressive Palaeontology 2020 Abstract Booklet.
Kerr, Isaac A. R., Camens, Aaron B., van Zoelen, Jacob D., Worthy, Trevor H. and Prideaux, Gavin J. (2024). Systematics and palaeobiology of kangaroos of the late Cenozoic genus Protemnodon (Marsupialia, Macropodidae). Megataxa 11(1): 1-261. https://doi.org/10.11646/megataxa.11.1.1
Koungoulos, Loukas G., Flannery, Timothy F. and O’Connor, S. (2024). First record of Protemnodon (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) from Pleistocene lowland New Guinea. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2024.2304340
Laurikainen Gaete, Christopher, Dosseto, Anthony, Arnold, Lee, Demuro, Martina, Lewis, Richard and Hocknull, Scott. (2025). Megafauna mobility: Assessing the foraging range of an extinct macropodid from central eastern Queensland, Australia. PLoS ONE 20(4): e0319712. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319712
Mountain, Mary-Jane. (1991). Highland New Guinea Hunter-Gatherers: The Evidence of Nombe Rockshelter, Simbu With Emphasis on the Pleistocene. Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Australian National University.
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
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]
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/19809/protemnodon-tumbuna