Taphonomy of Oligo-Miocene fossil sites of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia

Ameghiniana

Volumn 41, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 627-640

  Bassarova, Mina ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES   (Australia)

Author keywords

Age class distribution; Attritional; Australia; Autochthonous; Mammalian

Indexed keywords

FOSSIL ASSEMBLAGE; MIOCENE; OLIGOCENE; TAPHONOMY;

EID: 14844363741     PISSN: 00027014     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. Andrews, P. 1990. Owls, Caves and Fossils. Natural History Museum Publications. London.
2. Archer, M. 1979. Wabularoo naughtoni gen. et sp. nov., an enigmatic kangaroo (Marsupialia) from the middle Tertiary Carl Creek limestone of northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 19: 299-307.
3. Archer, M. and Flannery, T. 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 of Paleontology 59: 1331-1349.
4. Archer, M., Hand, S.J. and Godthelp, H. 1988. A new Order of Tertiary zalambdodont marsupials. Science 239: 1528-1531.
5. 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: 29-65.
6. Archer, M., Jenkins, F., Hand, S.J., Murray, P. and Godthelp, H. 1992. Description of the skull and non-vestigial dentition of a Miocene platypus (Obdurodon dicksoni n.sp.) from Riversleigh, Australia, and the problem of monotreme origins. In: M. Augee (ed.), Platypus and echidnas. The Royal Zoological Society of NSW. Sydney, pp. 15-27.
7. Archer, M., Hand, S.J. and Godthelp, H. 1996. Riversleigh. Second edition. Reed Books. Chatswood, NSW.
8. Archer, M., Hand, S.J., Godthelp, H. and Creaser, P. 1997. Correlation of the Cainozoic sediments of the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Property, Queensland, Australia. In: J.P. Aguilar, S. Legendre and J. Michaux (eds), Actes du Congress BiochroM'97, Inst. Monpellier, pp. 131-152.
9. Arena, D.A. 1997. The palaeontology and geology of Dunsinane site, Riversleigh. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 171-179.
10. Arribas, A. and Palmqvist, P. 1998. Taphonomy and palaeoecology of an assemblage of large mammals: hyaenid activity in the lower Pleistocene site at Venta Micena (Orce, Guadix-Baza Basin, Granada, Spain). Geobios 31 supplement: 3-47.
11. Badgley, C. 1986. Counting individuals in mammalian fossil assemblages from fluvial environments. Palaios 1: 328-38.
12. Bassarova, M., Archer, M. and Hand, S.J. 2001. New species of ringtail possums (Pseudocheiridae, Marsupialia) referable to the Oligo-Miocene genus Paljara from deposits of the Riversleigh World Heritage property, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 25: 61-75.
13. Behrensmeyer, A.K. 1975. The taphonomy and paleoecology of Plio-Pleistocene vertebrate assemblages of Lake Rudolf, Kenya. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 146: 473-578.
14. Behrensmeyer, A.K. 1978. Taphonomic and ecological information from bone weathering. Paleobiology 4: 150-62.
15. Behrensmeyer, A.K. 1991. Terrestrial vertebrate accumulations. In: P.A. Allison and D.E.G. Briggs (eds.), Taphonomy- Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record. Plenum Press. New York, pp. 291-335.
16. Behrensmeyer, A.K., Gordon, K.D. and Yanagi, G.T. 1989. Nonhuman bone modification in Miocene fossils from Pakistan. In: R. Bonnichsen and M. Sorg (eds.), Bone Modification. Centre for the Study of the First Americans. Orono, pp. 99-120.
17. Behrensmeyer, A. K., Kidwell, S. M. and Gastaldo, R. A. 2000. Taphonomy and paleobiology. Paleobiology 26, supplement: 103-147
18. Black K. 1997a. Diversity and biostratigraphy of the Diprotodontoidea of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 187-192.
19. Black, K. 1997b. A new species of Palorchestidae (Marsupialia) from the late middle to early late Miocene Encore Local Fauna, Riversleigh, northwestern Queesland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 181-185.
20. Black, K. and Archer, M. 1997. Nimiokoala gen. nov. (Marsupialia, Phascolarctidae) from Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 209-228.
21. Boles, W.E. 1993. Pengana robertbolesii, a peculiar bird of prey from the Tertiary of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, Australia. Alcheringa 17: 19-25.
22. Boles, W.E. 1999. Avian prey of the Australian Ghost Bat, Macroderma gigas (Microchiroptera: Megadermatidae): prey characteristics and damage from predation. Australian Zoologist 31: 82-91.
23. Boles, W.E. 2000. Investigations on Australian Tertiary avifauna with an emphasis on the fossil birds of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland PhD thesis. University of New South Wales. Sydney.
24. Brammall, J.R. 1998. A new petauroid possum from the Oligo-Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Alcheringa 23: 31-50.
25. Brammall, J. and Archer, M. 1997. A new Oligo-Miocene species of Burramys (Marsupialia, Burramyidae) from Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 247-268.
26. Clemens, W.A. and Plane, M. 1974. Mid-Tertiary Thylacoleonidae (Marsupialia, Mammalia). Journal of Paleontology 48: 652-660.
27. Coe, M. 1980. The role of modern ecological studies in the reconstruction of paleoenvironments in sub-Saharan Africa. In: A. K. Behrensmeyer and Hill, A. P. (eds.), Fossils in the Making. University of Chicago. Chicago, pp. 55-71.
28. Cooke, B. N. 1992. Primitive macropodids from Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Alcheringa 16: 201-217.
29. Cooke, B. N. 1997a. Biostratigraphic implications of fossil kangaroos at Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 295-302.
30. Cooke, B. N. 1997b. New Miocene bulungamayine kangaroos (Marsupialia, Potoroidae) from Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 281-294.
31. Cooke, B.N. 1999. Wanburoo hilarus gen. et sp. nov., a lophodont bulungamayine kangaroo (Marsuplialia: Macropodoidea: Bulungamayinae) from the Miocene records of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 57: 239-253.
32. Coombs, M. C. and Coombs, W. P. 1997. Analysis of the geology, fauna, and taphonomy of Morava Ranch Quarry, early Miocene of Northwest Nebraska. Palaios 12: 165-187.
33. Creaser, P. 1997. Oligocene-Miocene sediments of Riversleigh: the potential significance of topography. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 303-314.
34. Crosby, K. Nagy, M. and Archer M. 2001. Wyulda asherjoeli, a new phalangerid (Diprotodontia: Marsupialia) from the early Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 25: 77-82.
35. Dodson, P. 1973. The significance of small bones in paleoecological interpretation. Contributions to Geology 12: 15-19.
36. Dodson, P. and Wexlar, D. 1979. Taphonomic investigations of owl pellets. Paleobiology 5: 275-284.
37. Douglas, A.M. 1967. The natural history of the Ghost Bat, Macroderma gigas (Microchiroptera, Megadermatidae), in Western Australia. Western Australian Naturalist 10: 125-138.
38. Dufty, A. C. 1994. Population demography of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot (Perameles gunni) at Hamilton, Victoria. Wildlife Research 21: 445-457.
39. Duncan, I.J., Briggs, D.E.G., and Archer, M. 1998. Three-dimensionally mineralized insects and millipedes from the Tertiary of Riversleigh, Queensland, Australia. Palaeontology 41: 835-851.
40. Flannery, T.F. and Archer, M. 1987. Strigocuscus reidi and Trichosurus dicksoni, two new fossil phalangerids (Marsupialia: Phalangeridae) from the Miocene of northwestern Queensland. In: M. Archer (ed.), Possums and Opossums: Studies in Evolution. Surrey Beatty & Sons and Royal Zoological Society of NSW. Sydney, pp. 527-36.
41. Flannery, T., Archer, M. and Plane, M. 1982. Middle Miocene kangaroos (Macropodoidea: Marsupialia) from three localities in northern Australia, with a description of two new sub-families. BMR. Journal of Australian Geology and Geophysics 7: 287-302.
42. Fürsich, F.T. and Aberhan, M. 1990. Significance of time-averaging for palaeocommunity analysis. Lethaia 23: 143-152.
43. Grayson, D. K. 1984. Quantitative Zooarchaeology. Academic Press. Orlando. p. ?????
44. Hand, S. 1997. New Miocene leaf-nosed bats (Michrochiroptera: Hipposideridae) from Riversleigh, Northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 335-349.
45. Hand, S. 1998a. Xenorhinos, a new genus of old world leaf-nosed bats (Microchiroptera: Hipposideridae) from the Australian Miocene. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18: 430-439.
46. Hand, S. 1998b. Riversleigha williamsi gen. et sp. nov., a large Miocene hipposiderid (Microchiroptera) from Riversleigh, Queensland. Alcheringa 22: 259-276.
47. Hand, S.J., Archer, M., Godthelp, H., Rich, T. and Pledge, N. 1993. Nimbadon, a new genus and three new species of Tertiary zygomaturines (Marsupialia: Diprotodontidae) from northern Australia, with a reassessment of Neohelos. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 33: 193-210.
48. Haynes, G. 1982. Utilization and skeletal disturbance of North American Prey Carcasses. Arctic 35: 266-281.
49. Hill, A. P. 1979. Disarticulation and scattering of mammal skeletons. Paleobiology 3: 261-274.
50. Johnston, P.G. 1998. Long-nosed potoroo. In: R. Strahan (ed.), The Mammals of Australia. New Holland Publishers Pty Ltd. Sydney, pp. 301-302.
51. Kear, B.P., Archer, M. and Flannery, T.F. 2001. Bulungamayine (Marsupialia: Macropodidae) postcranial elements from the late Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 25: 103-122.
52. Korth, W.W. 1979. Taphonomy of microvertebrate fossil assemblages. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 48: 235-285.
53. Lyman, R.L. 1994. Vertebrate Taphonomy. Cambridge University Press. Great Britain, pp. 114-135.
54. Merchant, J.C., 1998. Swamp wallaby. In: R. Strahan (ed.), The Mammals of Australia, New Holland Publishers Pty Ltd, Sydney, p. 404-405.
55. Morrell, A. 2002. The geology and palaeontology of Keith's Chocky Block Site, Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Property, northwestern Queensland. Honours thesis. University of New South Wales, Sydney. pp. 64-65.
56. Muirhead, J. 1992. A specialised thylacinid, Thylacinus macknessi, (Marsupialia: Thylacinidae) from Miocene deposits of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Australian Mammalogy 15: 67-76.
57. Muirhead, J. 1997. Two new early Miocene thylacines from Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 367-377.
58. Muirhead, J. and Filan, S. 1995. Yarala burchfieldi, a plesiomorphic bandicoot (Marsupialia, Peramelemorphia) from Oligo-Miocene deposits of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Journal of Paleontology 69: 127-134.
59. Murray, P. 1990. Primitive marsupial tapirs (Propalorchestes novaculacephalus Murray and P. ponticulus sp. nov.) from the mid-Miocene of north Australia (Marsupialia: Palorchestidae). The Beagle, Records of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences 7: 39-51.
60. Myers, T.J. 2001. Prediction of marsupial body mass. Australian Journal of Zoology 49: 99-118.
61. Myers, T.J., Crosby, K., Archer, M. and Tyler, M. 2001. The Encore Local Fauna, a late Miocene assemblage from Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 25: 147-154.
62. Palmqvist, P. and Arribas, A. 2001. Taphonomic decoding of the paleobiological information locked in a lower Pleistocene assemblage of large mammals. Paleobiology 27: 512-530.
63. Palmqvist, P., Martinez-Navarro, B. and Arribas, A. 1996. Prey selection by terrestrial carnivores in a lower Pleistocene paleocommunity. Paleobiology 22: 514-534.
64. Shipman, P. 1981. Life History of a Fossil - an Introduction to Taphonomy and Paleoecology. Harvard University. Cambridge, 222 pp.
65. Springer, M.S. 1987. Lower molars of Litokoala (Marsupialia: Phascolarctidae) and their bearing on phascolarctid evolution. In: M. Archer (ed.), Possums and Opossums: studies in evolution, Surrey Beatty and Sons and Royal Zoological Society of NSW. Sydney, pp. 319-325.
66. Varricchio, D.J. and Horner, J.R. 1993. Hadrosaurid and lambeosaurid bone beds from the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana: taphonomic and biologic implications. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 30: 997-1006.
67. Voorhies, M.R. 1969. Taphonomy and population dynamics of an early Pliocene vertebrate fauna, Knox County, Nebraska. University of Wyoming, Contributions to Geology Special paper 1: 1-69.
68. Willis, P. 1993. Trilophosuchus rackhami, gen. et sp. nov., a new crocodilian from the early Miocene limestones of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 13: 90-98.
69. Woodburne, M.O., Tedford, R.H. and Archer, M. 1987. New Miocene ringtail possums (Marsupialia: Pseudocheiridae) from South Australia. In: M. Archer (ed.), Possums and Opossums: studies in evolution, Surrey Beatty and Sons and Royal Zoological Society of NSW. Sydney, pp. 639-679.
70. Woodburne, M.O., MacFadden, B.J., Case, J.A., Springer, M.S., Pledge, N.S., Power, J.D., Woodburne, J.M. and Springer, K.B. 1994. Land mammal biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy of the Etadunna Formation (late Oligocene) of South Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 13: 483-515.
71. Wroe, S. 1996. An investigation of phylogeny in the giant extinct rat kangaroo Ekaltadeta (Propleopinae, Potoroidae, Marsupialia). Journal of Paleontology 70: 681-690.
72. Wroe, S. 1997. Mayigriphus orbus gen. et sp. nov., a Miocene dasyuromorphian from Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41: 439-448.
73. Wroe, S. 1998. A new 'bone-cracking' dasyurid (Marsupialia), from the Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Alcheringa 22: 277-284.
74. Wroe, S. 1999. The geologically oldest dasyurid (Marsupialia) from the Miocene of Riversleigh, nothwestern Queensland. Palaeontology 42: 501-527.
75. Wroe, S. 2001. Maximucinus muirheadae, gen. et. sp. nov. (Thylacinidae: Marsupialia), from the Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, with estimates of body weights for fossil thylacinids. Australian Journal of Zoology 49: 603-614.
76. Wroe, S. 2002. A review of the relative significance of mammalian and reptilian carnivores in late Oligocene-Pleistocene Australia: the myth of reptilian domination. Australian Journal of Zoology 50: 1-24.