Researchers from Flinders University in Australia have described a new genus of enormous kangaroo fossils found in the central mountains of Papua New Guinea.
According to the updated description of the fossil kangaroo, it is most likely a member of a distinct genus of more primitive kangaroos that are exclusively found in PNG and not closely linked to Australian kangaroos.
Evidence for the existence of kangaroos dates back to between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago, when the species was originally named by Professor Tim Flannery in 1983.
They were discovered at an archaeological and palaeontological site known as the Nombe Rockshelter, which is located in the Chimbu Province of Papua New Guinea.
Nombe is already well-known for its several extinct kangaroo species and the gigantic four-legged marsupials known as diprotodontids.
The animal has been called Nombe nombe by Flinders University researchers in honor of the site of its discovery, and they intend to visit PNG again next year for additional research and excavations.
The powerful squat Nombe lived in a dense, mountainous rainforest with a closed canopy and thick undergrowth. Here, it developed a large jaw bone and powerful chewing muscles to devour the tough leaves from trees and plants.
Despite being colorful and unique, much of New Guinea’s animal life remains unknown outside of the island. This discovery revitalizes the knowledge of the faunal history of New Guinea.
Flinders University palaeontology PhD candidate Isaac Kerr adds, “The New Guinean fauna is fascinating, but very few Australians have much of an idea of what’s actually there.”
Many diverse wallaby and possum species that aren’t found in Australia, as well as more in the fossil record, include large, long-nosed, worm-eating echidna species.
“We think of these animals as being uniquely Australian, but they have this intriguing other life within New Guinea.”
The experts have investigated artifacts from the PNG Museum and Art gallery using 3D images and other technology. According to current theories, the species may have originated from a prehistoric kangaroo that wandered into New Guinea in the late Miocene epoch, some 5-8 million years ago.
Due to lower sea levels, the islands of New Guinea and mainland Australia were united by a “land-bridge” rather than being divided by the flooded Torres Strait as they are now. Early Australian mammals, including several enormous, extinct types, were able to cross this “bridge” and enter the New Guinean jungles.
But as the Torres Strait flooded once more, these animal species lost contact with their Australian relatives and developed independently to adapt to their tropical, mountainous environment in PNG.
Today, Nombe is regarded as a member of one of these long-extinct kangaroo lineages.
In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, American and Australian paleontologists conducted sporadic excavations that yielded several exciting findings of extinct megafauna. But there haven’t been any paleontological digs there since the early 1990s. The researchers from Flinders University want to change that.
Professor Gavin Prideaux of Flinders University, who is a co-author of the new Royal Society publication, says the research will advance as a result of funding from the Australia Pacific Science Foundation.
Over the next three years, he says, “We’re very excited to undertake three palaeontological digs at two different sites in eastern and central PNG over the next three years.”
They will work “with the curators of the Papua New Guinea Museum and Art Gallery and other contacts in PNG, with whom we hope to build some local interest in New Guinean palaeontology.”
Image Credit: Getty
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