A diverse Pleistocene marsupial trackway assemblage from the Victorian Volcanic Plains,Australia |
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| Authors: | Stephen P Carey Aaron B Camens Matthew L Cupper Rainer Grün John C Hellstrom Stafford W McKnight Iain Mclennan David A Pickering Peter Trusler Maxime Aubert |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia;2. Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, Western Australia 6986, Australia;3. PANGEA Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales Australia, New South Wales 2052, Australia;1. State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China;2. School of the Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China;3. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China;4. Dinosaur Trackers Research Group, CB 172, University of Colorado at Denver, PO Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364, USA;5. Shaanxi Geological Survey, Xi''an 710054, Shaanxi, China;6. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia |
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| Abstract: | A diverse assemblage of late Pleistocene marsupial trackways on a lake bed in south-western Victoria provides the first information relating to the gaits and morphology of several megafaunal species, and represents the most speciose and best preserved megafaunal footprint site in Australia. The 60–110 ka volcaniclastic lacustrine sedimentary rocks preserve trackways of the diprotodontid Diprotodon optatum, a macropodid (probably Protemnodon sp.) and a large vombatid (perhaps Ramsayia magna or ‘Phascolomys’ medius) and possible prints of the marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex. The footprints were imprinted within a short time period, demonstrating the association of the taxa present, rather than the time-averaged accumulations usually observed in skeletal fossil deposits. Individual manus and pes prints are distinguishable in some trackways, and in many cases some digital pad morphology is also present. Several parameters traditionally used to differentiate ichnotaxa, including trackway gauge and the degree of print in-turning relative to the midline, are shown to be subject to significant intraspecific variation in marsupials. Sexual dimorphism in the trackway proportions of Diprotodon, and its potential for occurrence in all large bodied, quadrupedal marsupials, is identified here for the first time. |
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