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Middle Miocene Kangaroos (Macropodoidea: Marsupialia) from three localities in Northern Australia, with a description of two new subfamilies

Created 16/10/2025

Updated 16/10/2025

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The middle Miocene macropodoids of the Riversleigh, Bullock Creek, and Kangaroo Well local faunas are the oldest recorded assemblages of kangaroos. Five new species are described here. One, Bulungamaya delicata n. gen. and sp., is placed with Wabularoo naughtoni Archer, 1979 in the new potoroid subfamily Bulungamayinae. Gumardee pascua Ii n. gen. and sp. is placed within the Potoroinae. Balbaroo camfieldensis n. gen. and sp. and Balbaroo gregoriensis n. sp. are placed in a new macropodid subfamily, the Balbarinae. Galanarla tessel/ala n. gen. and sp. is placed in the Macropodidae , but cannot as yet be assigned to a particular subfamily. All the new species are from the Riversleigh local fauna, except B. camfieldensis from the Bullock Creek local fauna. The previously known Kangaroo Well macropodid appears to be referable to the genus Balbaroo. The Bulungamayinae is represented by forms which, although related to potoroines, have bulbous premolars and lophodont molars. The Balbarinae includes generally plesiomorphic forms that may have been ancestral to other macropodids. None of the macropodoid genera described here are known from more recent deposits. This suggests that a radical transition in the dominant kinds of macropodoids took place between middle and late Miocene times.

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Field Value
Title Middle Miocene Kangaroos (Macropodoidea: Marsupialia) from three localities in Northern Australia, with a description of two new subfamilies
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/eb834b55-c5ef-4fc6-9f4f-146174c2d65f
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Middle Miocene Kangaroos (Macropodoidea: Marsupialia) from three localities in Northern Australia, with a description of two new subfamilies". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/middle-miocene-kangaroos-macropodoidea-marsupialia-from-three-localities-in-northern-australia-