A new species of bandicoot from the Oligocene of northern Australia and implication of bandicoots for correlating Australian tertiary mammal faunas

Abstract

A new species of primitive bandicoot, Yarala kida sp. nov., is described from Kangaroo Well, a site in the Northern Territory of Australia. This species is possibly ancestral to Yarala burchfieldi, the type species of the Yaraloidea, and supports a late Oligocene age for the Kangaroo Well Local Fauna. The yaraloid bandicoots are likely to become important biochronological tools for Australian faunas of late Oligocene to early Miocene age, as they are widespread and diverse. Developing morphoclines for this group is therefore essential, as is publication of the mostly undescribed bandicoot material known from other sites of similar age. © 2006 The Palaeontological Association.