{"id":623447,"date":"2023-03-29T16:07:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T21:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/29\/bizarre-possum-species-lived-in-australia-25-million-years-ago\/"},"modified":"2023-03-29T16:07:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T21:07:00","slug":"bizarre-possum-species-lived-in-australia-25-million-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/29\/bizarre-possum-species-lived-in-australia-25-million-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Bizarre Possum Species Lived in Australia 25 Million Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new species of ektopodontid possum has been described from Oligocene-age fossils found in central Australia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"Life<\/a><\/p>\n

Life reconstruction of Ektopodon serratus<\/em> (top left), a relative of Chunia pledgei<\/em>, and the marsupial lion Wakaleo oldfieldi<\/em> (right). Image credit: Peter Schouten \/ CC BY-SA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Chunia pledgei<\/em> roamed our planet during the Oligocene epoch, some 25 million years ago.<\/p>\n

It belongs to Ektopodontidae<\/a>, an enigmatic group of marsupials known from the Late Oligocene to the Early Pleistocene of Australia.<\/p>\n

These animals had<\/a> short faces, large, forward-facing eyes and the most unusual and complex teeth of any marsupial.<\/p>\n

\u201cChunia pledgei<\/em> had teeth that would be a dentist\u2019s nightmare, with lots of bladed points (cusps) positioned side by side, like lines on a barcode,\u201d said Flinders University Ph.D. candidate Arthur Crichton and colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tooth shape is characteristic of species in the poorly known, extinct possum family Ektopodontidae.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new species is unusual in that it has pyramid-shaped cusps on its front molars,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese might have been useful for puncture-crushing hard foods \u2014 a bit like a nutcracker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what did ektopodontids eat? We don\u2019t really know for sure \u2014 there\u2019s no animal like them alive today anywhere in the world,\u201d the paleontologists said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on aspects of their molar morphology, we infer they were probably eating fruits and seeds or nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they may have been doing something totally different!\u201d<\/p>\n

The fossilized remains of Chunia pledgei<\/em> were found at the Pwerte Marnte Marnte fossil locality in central Australia.<\/p>\n

According to the authors, the new species is likely the geologically oldest ektopodontid possum.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, ektopodontids are tantalizingly rare in the fossil record, known only from isolated teeth and several partial jaws,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fossils show they had a lemur-like short face, with particularly large, forward-facing eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut until we find more complete skeletal material, their ecology will likely remain mysterious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat remains astonishing is just how little we know about the origins of Australia\u2019s living animals, owing in no small part to a 30-million-year gap in the fossil record \u2014 half the time between now and the extinction of the dinosaurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, it\u2019s inspiring to think about the countless strange and fascinating animals that must have once lived on this continent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFossil evidence of these creatures may still be sitting somewhere in the outback, waiting to be discovered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The findings<\/a> were published online in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology<\/em>.<\/p>\n

_____<\/span><\/p>\n

Arthur I. Crichton et al<\/em>. A new ektopodontid possum (Diprotodontia, Ektopodontidae) from the Oligocene of central Australia, and its implications for phalangeroid interrelationships. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology<\/em>, published online February 23, 2023; doi: 10.1080\/02724634.2023.2171299<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Enrico de Lazaro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new species of ektopodontid possum has been described from Oligocene-age fossils found in central Australia. Life reconstruction of Ektopodon serratus (top left), a relative of Chunia pledgei, and the marsupial lion Wakaleo oldfieldi (right). Image credit: Peter Schouten \/ CC BY-SA. Chunia pledgei roamed our planet during the Oligocene epoch, some 25 million years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":623448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[303,534,120890],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-623447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bizarre","8":"category-financial","9":"category-possum"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}