Project 739: R. M. D. Beck. 2012. An ‘ameridelphian’ marsupial from the early Eocene of Australia supports a complex model of Southern Hemisphere marsupial biogeography. Naturwissenschaften: The Science of Nature. 99 (9):715-729.
Abstract
Recent molecular data strongly support the monophyly of all extant Australian and New Guinean marsupials (Eomarsupialia) to the exclusion of extant South American marsupials. This, together with available geological and fossil evidence, has been used to argue that the presence of marsupials in Australia is simply the result of a single dispersal event from South America during the latest Cretaceous or Palaeocene, without subsequent dispersals between the two continents. Here, I describe an isolated ankle bone (calcaneus) of a metatherian from the early Eocene Tingamarra Local Fauna in northeastern Australia. Strikingly, this specimen, QM F30060, lacks the ‘continuous lower ankle joint pattern’ (CLAJP), presence ofwhich is a highly distinctive apomorphy of the marsupial clade Australidelphia, which includes Eomarsupialia, the living South American microbiotherian Dromiciops and the Tingamarran fossil marsupial Djarthia. Comparisons with a range of marsupials and stemmetatherians strongly suggest that the absence of the CLAJP in QM F30060 is plesiomorphic, and that this specimen represents the first unequivocal non-australidelphian (‘ameridelphian’) metatherian known from Australia. This interpretation is confirmed by phylogenetic analyses that place QM F30060 within (crown-group) Marsupialia, but outside Australidelphia. Based on these results, the distribution of marsupials within Gondwana cannot be explained by simply a single dispersal event from South America and Australia. Either there were multiple dispersals by marsupials (and possibly also stem metatherians) between South America and Australia, in one or both directions, or, alternatively, there was a broadly similar metatherian fauna stretching across southern South America, Antarctica and Australia during the Late Cretaceous–early Palaeogene.Read the article »
Article DOI: 10.1007/s00114-012-0953-x
Project DOI: 10.7934/P739, http://dx.doi.org/10.7934/P739
This project contains | Matrices |
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Download Project SDD File | Total scored cells: 7699 Total media associated with cells: 0 Total labels associated with cell media: 0 |
Characters | |
Total characters: 261 Total characters with associated media: 0 Total characters with media with labels: 0 Total character states: 603 Total character states with associated media: 0 Total character states with media with labels:0 Total unordered/ordered characters:261/0 |
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MorphoBank Project 739
MorphoBank Project 739
- Creation Date:
31 May 2012 - Publication Date:
07 August 2012 - Project views: 35038
- Matrix downloads: 34
This research
supported by
Authors' Institutions
- American Museum of Natural History
- University of New South Wales
Members
member name | taxa | specimens | media | media notes | chars | character
| cell scorings (scored, NPA, "-") | cell
| rules | ||||||||||||||
Robin Beck Project Administrator | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 261 | 0 | 261 | 0 | 0 | 7699 (7421, 0, 278) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
MorphoBank Curator Full membership | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (0, 0, 0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Taxonomic Overview for Matrix 'M1668' (38 Taxa)
taxon | unscored cells |
scored cells |
no cell support |
NPA cells |
"-" cells | cell images | labels on cell images |
member access |
[1] Ornithorhynchus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 26 | 211 | 209 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[2] Tachyglossus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 21 | 216 | 214 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[3] Vincelestes Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 78 | 173 | 172 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[4] Ukhaatherium Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 158 | 99 | 99 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[5] Asioryctes Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 145 | 112 | 112 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[6] Deltatheridium Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 175 | 78 | 78 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[7] Mayulestes Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 83 | 174 | 174 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[8] Pucadelphys Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 55 | 206 | 202 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[9] Andinodelphys Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 72 | 186 | 185 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[10] Didelphis Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 2 | 265 | 254 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[11] Monodelphis Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 3 | 261 | 253 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[12] Caluromys Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 107 | 152 | 150 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[13] Glironia Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 100 | 158 | 157 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[14] Caenolestes Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 10 | 249 | 245 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[15] Dasyuroides Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 12 | 248 | 242 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[16] Dasyurus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 8 | 262 | 249 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[17] Phascogale Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 15 | 245 | 242 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[18] Notoryctes Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 42 | 209 | 206 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[19] Echymipera Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 9 | 248 | 245 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[20] Perameles Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 4 | 255 | 250 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[21] Dromiciops Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 7 | 252 | 249 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[22] Trichosurus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 3 | 258 | 252 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[23] Phalanger Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 8 | 252 | 246 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[24] Petaurus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 1 | 255 | 252 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[25] Pseudochirops Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 5 | 250 | 249 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[26] Cercartetus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 23 | 231 | 231 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[27] Macropus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 3 | 256 | 251 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[28] Dendrolagus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 11 | 245 | 242 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[29] Dorcopsis Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 15 | 240 | 239 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[30] Thylogale Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 21 | 234 | 233 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[31] Vombatus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 8 | 247 | 241 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[32] Phascolarctos Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 9 | 242 | 242 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[33] Asiatherium Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 208 | 51 | 50 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[34] Herpetotherium Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 111 | 146 | 146 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[35] Mimoperadectes Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 184 | 70 | 69 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[36] Djarthia Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 172 | 89 | 84 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[37] Palaeothentes Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 176 | 80 | 80 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[38] QMF30060 Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 240 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Project views
type | number of views | Individual items viewed (where applicable) |
Total project views | 35038 | |
Project overview | 3833 | |
Matrix views | 2864 | Matrix landing page (2442 views); An ‘ameridelphian’ marsupial from the early Eocene of Australia supports a complex model of Southern Hemisphere marsupial biogeography (422 views); |
Taxon list | 17709 | |
Media views | 6591 | Media search (5755 views); M148452 (836 views); |
Specimen list | 3488 | |
Documents list | 17 | |
Bibliography | 534 | |
Views for media list | 2 |
Project downloads
type | number of downloads | Individual items downloaded (where applicable) |
Total downloads from project | 387 | |
Matrix downloads | 34 | An ‘ameridelphian’ marsupial from the early Eocene of Australia supports a complex model of Southern Hemisphere marsupial biogeography (34 downloads); |
Project downloads | 353 |