Megalibgwilia
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†W. ramsayi (Owen, 1884) |
Megalibgwilia is a genus of echidna only known from fossils from Australia, it incorporates the oldest known echidna species.
Megalibgwilia was first described from from a broken left humerus by Richard Owen when he identified W. ramsayi in 1884. Complete skulls and postcranial fossils have since been described. A second species, W. robusta, was described in 1896 by Australian paleontologist William Sutherland Dun. Although they are sometimes commonly referred to as giant echidnas, Megalibgwilia species are thought to have been a similar size to the contemporary Western Long-beaked Echidna, but with slightly longer forearms.[1] They were smaller than a large species known from fossils in Australia, Zaglossus hacketti. W. ramsayi fossils have been found in deposits across mainland Australia and on Tasmania. W. robusta has only been found in the New South Wales.[1] Megalibgwilia was probably and insect-eater, like the Short-beaked Echidna, rather than a worm-eater like members of Zaglossus.[2]
W. robusta is the oldest known echidna, it is the only species that is known to have occurred during the Miocene.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Long, J., Archer, M., Flannery, T. and Hand, S. 2002. Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. John Hopkins University Press. pp 45-47. ISBN 0801872235.
- ^ a b Griffiths, M., Wells, R.T., and Barrie, D.J. 1991. Observations on the skulls of fossil and extant echidnas (Monotremata:Tachyglossidae),. Australian Mammalology 14:87-101
