Simosthenurus maddocki (Wells & Murray, 1979)
Maddock's kangaroo, Browsing kangaroo
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Simosthenurus maddocki nullarborensis Prideaux, 1994
"This species is characterised by upper molars with many fine enamel crenulations, a distinct preprotocrista, a preparacrista strongly connected to the paracone apex, and slightly incurved postpara- and premeta-cristae."
(Matthews et al., 2025)
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Late Pleistocene
Distribution
New South Wales & South Australia, Australia
Anatomy & Morphology
It weighed an estimated 50kg (Johnson & Prideaux, 2004:557) or 78kg (Helgen et al., 2006; Johnson, 2006:19).
Biology & Ecology
It "had a set of unusual features – slender lower incisors, small cheek teeth and (evidently) a long manipulative tongue – that suggest a diet at least partly of fruit or at least of unusually soft browse." (Johnson, 2006:22).
Hypodigm
SAM P18311 (Helgen et al., 2006:303)
SAM S123 07 (Helgen et al., 2006:303)
FUCN 1403 (Helgen et al., 2006:303)
Simosthenurus sp. cf. Si. maddocki
FU2885 (left M2 or M3) (Matthews et al., 2025)
FU2844 (left M1, left M2) (Matthews et al., 2025)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Wells, Rod and Murray, P. (1979). A new sthenurine kangaroo (Marsupialia, Macropodidae) from southeastern South Australia. Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 103: 213-219.
Other references:
Flannery, Timothy F. and Hope Jeannette. (1983). Occurrences of the extinct macropodid marsupial Simosthenurus maddocki in New South Wales. Australia Mammology 6(1): 37-39.
Fraser, Rebecca A. and Wells, Roderick T. (2006). The palaeontological excavation and taphonomic investigation of a late Pleistocene fossil deposit in Grant Hall, Naracoorte, South Australia. Alcheringa Special Issue 1, 2006: 147-161.
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]
Johnson, Chris N. (2006). Australia's Mammal Extinctions: A 50 000 Year History. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press. x + 278 pp. [p. 19, 22]
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
Lemoine, Rhys Taylor, Buitenwerf, Robert, Faurby, Sören and Svenning, Jens-Christian. (2025). Phylogenetic Evidence Supports the Effect of Traits on Late-Quaternary Megafauna Extinction in the Context of Human Activity. Global Ecology and Biogeography 34(7): e70078. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70078 [Supporting Information: Data S1]
Macken, A. C. et al. (2011). Application of sedimentary and chronological analyses to refine the depositional context of a Late Pleistocene vertebrate deposit, Naracoorte, South Australia. Quat. Sci. Rev. 30(19-20): 2690-2702.
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
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.
Piper, K. J. (2006). A new species of Palorchestidae (Marsupialia) from the Pliocene and early Pleistocene of Victoria. Alcheringa Special Issue 1: 281-294.
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.
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.
Reed, E. H. (2006). In Situ Taphonomic Investigation of Pleistocene Large Mammal Bone Deposits from The Ossuaries, Victoria Fossil Cave, Naracoorte, South Australia. Helictite 39(1): 5-15. [subfossil record]
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]
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.
Wells, R. T., and P. F. Murray. (1979). A new sthenurine kangaroo (Marsupialia, Macropodidae) from southeastern South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 103: 213-219.
Williams, D. L. G. (1980). Catalogue of Pleistocene vertebrate fossils and sites in South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 104(5): 101-115.
ftp://rock.geosociety.org/pub/reposit/2007/2007016.pdf