New Fossils Challenge Marsupial Evolution Theory

[microrobert]

New Fossils Challenge Marsupial Evolution Theory

Two tiny marsupial fossils from Australia are prompting an overhaul of theory about marsupial evolution after they revealed unexpected links to South America and Africa.



Only known specimen of the Early Eocen marsupial Archaeonothos henkgodthelpi from southeastern Queensland, Australia; scale bar – 1mm

“The origins of Australian marsupials suddenly got a lot more complicated,” said Dr Robin Beck from the University of New South Wales.

One of the fossils, found at the Tingamarra site in southeastern Queensland, is a 55 million-year-old ankle bone from a mouse-sized marsupial previously known only from South America.

“All the species of modern day marsupials here are quite closely related. The species represented by the ankle-bone belongs to an entirely different group – a group that we know lived in South America but, up until now, we thought never made it to Australia.”

The second is a tooth, which derives from a formerly unknown species that shows similarities to fossils found in South America and, surprisingly, North Africa.

New Fossils Challenge Marsupial Evolution Theory | Paleontology | Sci-News.com

[Anglojew]

Some marsupial species are found in the Americas. Nothing surprising or new here.