Confirmation of Thylacinus from the Pliocene Chinchilla Local Fauna.

Abstract

A variety of fossil mammals has been recovered from the freshwater, fluviatile sediments of the Chinchilla Sand (sensu Woods 1960) and is collectively known as the Chinchilla Local Fauna (Archer and Bartholomai 1978). Included in this exclusively Pliocene fauna are marsupial carnivores (Bartholomai 1962, 1976; Wroe and Mackness 1998; 2000a,b); bandicoots (Mackness et al. 2000); phascolarctomorphs (De Vis 1889, Archer 1977); diprotontontoids (De Vis 1887, 1891, 1895; Longman 1921); marsupial lions (Bartholomai 1962); macropodids (Bartholomai 1963, 1973, 1975); bats (Hand et al. 1999) and rodents (Godthelp 1990). In addition, there are several reports of thylacinids from the fauna (De Vis 1893, 1894; Ride 1964; Dawson 1982).