Reporter : Sun Zifa
Editor : Yu Xiao
Publisher : China News Network
Direct translation
Image : A restoration painting of the new species Mukupirna nambensis, 25 million years ago, with hard-tailed ducks and flamingos unearthed at the same location. (Drawing by Peter Schouten)
A new paleontology research paper published by the Scientific Report, an international academic journal of natural science research, said that researchers discovered and reported an ancient marsupial in South Australia. The new species, which represents one of the oldest Australian marsupials known to have been excavated to date, its anatomical features help the academic community to further understand the evolution of modern wombats and their typical burrowing behavior.
Robin Beck, the corresponding author of the research paper and a paleontologist at the University of Salford in the UK, discovered that the fossil can be traced back to the Oligocene through a study of a skull and some skeletons excavated in the Ayr Lake Basin in South Australia. In the late period (about 25 million to 26 million years ago), it belongs to a new species of wombat suborder.
Wombats was once one of the most diverse marsupial evolution groups. Currently only three species in the ursus family and koalas are still alive. Robin Baker and others named the newly discovered species "Mukupirna nambensis", which is derived from the "muku" in Dieri and Malyangapa spoken in the surrounding areas of Lake Ayr and Frome (Bone) and "pirna" (large), their weight is estimated to be 143-171 kg, about 5 times that of the existing wombat species.
Image : Photo of skull fossils of the new species, with the front side of the skull above the picture and a total length of 19.7 cm. (Picture from Julien Louys of Griffith University and Robin Beck of Salford University)
The author of the paper stated that some of the anatomical features identified from the bones pointed to the burrowing behavior, such as the adaptation of the forearm of burrowing animals. However, previously discovered fossil evidence dating back to a later period shows that Mukupirna is not as adaptable to digging behavior as its late relatives. This and the new type of body indicate that Mukupirna may not have the real burrowing abilities that modern wombats have, but it may obtain food under the surface such as plant rhizomes by scraping.
Robin Baker and others also pointed out in the paper that another typical adaptation of existing wombat species is specialized molars that can continue to grow, but Mukupirna does not, which shows that the bones used for excavation during the evolution of wombats Anatomy adapts to changes earlier than the teeth.
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