Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T15:26:17.910Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An investigation of phylogeny in the giant extinct rat kangaroo Ekaltadeta (Propleopinae, Potoroidae, Marsupialia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Stephen Wroe*
Affiliation:
School of Biological Science, University of New South Wales, N.S.W. 2052 Australia

Abstract

The Giant Rat Kangaroos (Ekaltadeta, Propleopus) were placed in a new subfamily the Propleopinae by Archer and Flannery (1985). The discovery of new Ekaltadeta material from Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland has stimulated a review of propleopine phylogeny. Cladistic analysis of five propleopine taxa suggests possible paraphyly for Ekaltadeta and polyphyly for Propleopus. A new species of Miocene propleopine, Ekaltadeta jamiemulvaneyi n. sp., from system C local faunas at Riversleigh, is described.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbe, A. 1939. A masticatory adaptation peculiar to some diprotodont marsupials. Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 109:261279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Archer, M. 1978. The nature of the molar premolar boundary in marsupials and a reinterpretation of the homology of marsupial cheek teeth. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 18:157–64.Google Scholar
Archer, M., Bartholomai, A., and Marshall, L. G. 1978. Propleopus chillagoensis, a new north Queensland species of extinct giant rat kangaroo (Macropodidae: Potoroinae). Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, 39:5560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Archer, M., and Flannery, T. F. 1985. Revision of the extinct gigantic rat kangaroos (Potoroidae: Marsupialia). With description of a new Miocene genus and species, and a new Pleistocene species of Propleopus. Journal o. Paleontology, 59:13311349.Google Scholar
Archer, M., Godthelp, H., Hand, S. J., and Megirian, D. 1989. Fossil mammals of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland: preliminary overview of biostratigraphy, correlation, and environmental change. Australian zoologist, 25:2965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felsenstein, J. 1985. Confidence limits on phylogenies: an approach using the bootstrap. Evolution, 39:783791.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flannery, T. F. 1987. The relationships of the macropodoids (Marsupialia) and the polarity of some morphological features within the Phalangeriformes, p. 741747. In Archer, M. (ed.), Possums and Opossums: Studies in Evolution. Surrey Beatty and Sons Pty Ltd, and the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Sydney.Google Scholar
Flannery, T. F., and Archer, M. 1987. Hypsiprymnodon bartholomaii (Marsupialia: Potoroidae), a new species from the Miocene Dwornamor Local Fauna and a reassessment of the phylogenetic position of H. moschatus, p. 749758. In Archer, M. (ed.), Possums and Opossums: Studies in Evolution. Surrey Beatty and Sons Pty Ltd, and the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Sydney.Google Scholar
Gaffney, S. E., Meylan, P. A., and Wyss, A. R. 1991. A computer assisted analysis of the relationships of the higher categories of turtles. Cladistics, 7:313335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grey, J. E. 1821. On the natural arrangement of vertebrose animals. London Medical Redeposit, 15:296310.Google Scholar
Hope, J. H. 1982. Late Cainozoic vertebrate faunas and the development of aridity in Australia, p. 85100. In Barker, W. R. and Greenslade, P. J. (eds.), Evolution of the Flora and Fauna of Arid Australia. Peacock Press, Frewville.Google Scholar
Kluge, A. G., and Farris, J. S. 1969. Quantitative phyletics and the evolution of anurans. Systematic Zoology, 18:132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longman, H. A. 1924. Some Queensland fossil vertebrates. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 8:1628.Google Scholar
Luckett, P. 1993. An ontogenetic assessment in dental homologies in the therian mammals, p. 182204. In Szalay, F. S., Novacek, M. J. and McKenna, M. C. (eds.), Mammal Phylogeny: Mesozoic Differentiation, Multituberculates, Monotremes, Early Therians, and Marsupials, Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novacek, M. J., Wyss, A. R., and McKenna, M. C. 1988. The major groups of eutherian mammals, p. 3171. In Benton, M. J. (ed.), Systematics Association Special Volume 35B. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Simmons, N. B. 1993. Phylogeny of Multituberculates. In Szalay, S. F., Novacek, M. J. and, McKenna, M. C. (eds.), Mammal Phylogeny; Mesozoic Differentiation, Multituberculates, Monotremes, Early Therians and, Marsupials. Springer-Verlag, New York.Google Scholar
Swofford, D. L. 1990. Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony, version 3.0. Illinois Natural History Survey.Google Scholar
Tate, G. H. 1948. Studies on the anatomy and phylogeny of the Macropodidae (Marsupialia). Results of the Archibold expeditions No. 59. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 9:237351.Google Scholar
Wells, R. T., Horton, D. R., and, Rogers, P. 1982. Thylacoleo carnifex Owen (Thylacoleonidae): Marsupial Carnivore?, p. 573586. In Archer, M. (ed.), Carnivorous Marsupials, Surrey Beatty and Sons Pty Ltd and the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Sydney.Google Scholar
Wiley, E. O., Siegel-Clausey, D., Brooks, D. R., and Funk, V. A. 1991. The complete cladist, a primer of phylogenetic procedures. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, 19:1158.Google Scholar
Woods, J. T. 1960. The genera Propleopus and Hypsiprymnodon and their position in the Macropodidae, 13:199212.Google Scholar
Wroe, S. 1992. Unique marsupial tooth replacement/function in Ekaltadeta ima, an Oligo-Miocene potoroid kangaroo from Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. The Beagle, 9:256.Google Scholar
Wroe, S., and Archer, M. 1995. Extraordinary diphyodonty-related change in dental function for a tooth of the extinct marsupial Ekaltadeta ima (Propleopinae, Hypsiprymnodontidae). Archives of Oral Biology, 40:597603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, W. G., Jupp, R., and Kruger, B. J. 1989. Evolution of the skull, jaws, and teeth in vertebrates. University of Queensland Press, Brisbane.Google Scholar