Giant kangaroo fossil points to previously unknown species in New Guinea
by Jim Tan on 27 July 2022
A previously unknown genus of primitive giant kangaroo that once roamed the rainforests of New Guinea has been described by a team of paleontologists from Flinders University in Australia.
The researchers say they hope the findings, published in June, will reenergize the field of paleontological research on New Guinea, helping to uncover the island’s history and thus better understand its diverse and often unique modern-day flora and fauna.
The chance discovery came about as lead author Isaac Kerr, a Ph.D. candidate at Flinders University, was reexamining a fossilized jawbone thought to belong to a giant kangaroo from the extinct genus Protemnodon, a cousin to the modern-day eastern gray and red kangaroos (Macropus giganteus and Macropus rufus) found in Australia and the focus of Kerr’s research. On closer examination, distinct differences to Protemnodon in the molar teeth led the research team to believe they were in fact looking at a previously undiscovered genus most likely unique to New Guinea.
The jawbone was originally found during an expedition led by Mary Jane Mountain in the 1970s at an archaeological site in central Papua New Guinea called the Nombe Rockshelter. Kerr and his colleagues have named the new genus Nombe after the site and the type species will be called Nombe nombe.
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Artist's impression of Nombe Rockshelter megafauna
Artist’s impression of Nombe Rockshelter megafauna, showing the Nombe kangaroo on the right. Illustration courtesy Peter Schouten.
More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/giant-kangaroo-fossil-points-to-previously-unknown-species-in-new-guinea/