Riversleigh fauna

{{Short description|List of animal fossils found in Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Queensland}}

Riversleigh fauna is the collective term for any species of animal identified in fossil sites located in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area.

Faunal zones

The presence of the Riversleigh in the Oligo-Miocene has been exceptionally well preserved throughout a number of time periods. These has been classified by four "faunal zones",{{cite web |title=Faunal zones |url=http://www.wakaleo.net/?page_id=21 |website=Faunal encyclopedia |publisher=wakaleo.net |accessdate=28 May 2019}} and may be summarised as,

More recent fossil specimens has also been coded to the period of deposition,

  • Pliocene (PLIO), a period 2.588-5.332 myr
  • Pleistocene (PLEIS), 0.0117-2.588 myr
  • Holocene, noted as (HOLO) to indicate the period dated as following the Pleistocene, from the present day to 11,700 years ago.

Faunal lists

The following are incomplete lists of mammals, birds, fish, and invertebrate species and genera included in the Riversleigh fauna, according to the compilation of taxa by researchers at the University of New South Wales and Queensland (wakaleo.net).{{cite web |title=About wakaleo.net |url=http://www.wakaleo.net/?page_id=15 |website=Faunal encyclopaedia |publisher=wakaleo.net |accessdate=28 May 2019}} A survey of species-level taxa described in the Riversleigh Fauna in the decades of research preceding 2006, resulted in a total greater than 290 species.{{cite journal |last1=Archer |first1=M. |display-authors=etal |title=Current status of species-level representation in faunas from selected fossil localities in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland |journal=Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology |date=1 January 2006 |volume=30 |issue=sup1 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.1080/03115510609506851 |s2cid=56390817 |url=http://www.create.unsw.edu.au/research/files/Archer%20et%20al%20(2006)%20Current%20status.PDF |issn=0311-5518}}

The fauna of Riversleigh includes placental mammals, especially bats, and the various families of marsupials. Due to the novelty of some taxa discovered in the area, some species have been placed in tentative arrangements or unknown lineages placed as sometimes undescribed higher taxa.

The Mammalia discovered at the site includes the Yingabalanaridae (weirdodonta) family, whose classification within the order is currently uncertain.{{cite web |title=Mammals (Mammalia) |url=http://www.wakaleo.net/?page_id=107 |website=Riversleigh faunal encyclopedia |publisher=wakaleo.net |accessdate=28 May 2019}}

=Chiroptera (Bats)=

=Macropodiformes (Kangaroos, bettongs, potoroos and rat-kangaroos)=

=Phalangeriformes (Possums)=

=Vombatiformes (Koalas, marsupial lions, wombats, etc)=

=Peramelemorphia (Bandicoots and bilbies)=

=Dasyuromorphia=

=Misc. Mammals=

=Aves (Birds)=

=Reptiles=

=Amphibians=

=Dipnoi (Lungfishes)=

References

{{Reflist|1|refs=

{{cite news |url=http://www.physorg.com/news180469378.html |title=Loud and lazy but didn't chew gum: Ancient koalas |author=Dan Gaffney |accessdate=5 August 2010 |date=19 December 2009 |work=PhysOrg |publisher=PhysOrg.com }}

{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10686515 |title=Cave yields marsupial fossil haul |accessdate=5 August 2010 |date=19 July 2010 |work=BBC News }}

}}