The status of the taxa of extinct giant wombats (Vombatidae: Marsupialia), and a consideration of vombatid phylogeny.

Abstract

A re-examination of the type material and the description of a recently discovered fossil specimen from the Pleistocene deposits of the eastern Darling Downs, Queensland, has supported the synonomy of two taxa of large extinct wombats, Phascolomys curvirostris Owen, 1875 and Phascolomys magnus Owen, 1872 in Ramsayia magna (Owen). This species is shown to be variable in size, but occasionally as large as the equally variable Phascolonus gigas. A mandible, also from the eastern Darling Downs, is referred to this species, while its similarity to the holotype of Phascolonus lemleyi Archer, suggests that this latter species should also be placed in Ramsayia. A revised generic diagnosis is included. A hypothesis of the relationships of living and fossil wombats is presented, based on a cladistic analysis of dental and palatal characters.