Fossils of 'big boned' marsupial shed light on wombat evolution


June 26, 2020

Fossils of a huge, hairy creature with shovel-shaped hands and unusual teeth could hold clues to the evolution of today’s wombats, researchers say.

They say the fossils belong to a new member of a group of marsupials called vombatiforms, and one of the earliest such creatures yet discovered.

“Vombatiforms is this really interesting group; the only living members are the koala and the [three living species of] wombats,” said Dr Robin Beck, the first author of the study, from the University of Salford in the UK.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/...tion-mukupirna