Riversleigh

Riversleigh , in the North-West of the Queensland in Australia, is a site of Fossile S of more than 100 km ² of surface containing of the remainders of old animals in particular Mammifère S dating from the Oligocène and the Miocène. It was registered on the list of the world heritage of Humanity in 1994 and is located near the Boodjamulla National Park.

Riversleigh is one of the most important sites with fossils of Australia.

The fossils of Riversleigh are enchased in limestone found in ponds or caves of an area whose ecosystem evolved/moved of a wet forest to a semi-desert meadow. One identified on the site 35 species of Chauve-souris - what makes of it the richest site in the world for this kind of animals -, cranium and the almost complete teeth of a Monotrème old of a few fifteen million years: Obdurodon dicksoni, allowing to foresee the evolution of this group so characteristic of Australian fauna. Some fossils of a marsupial Thylacine, ancestors of the recently extinct species: Thylacinus cynocephalus , the Tigre of Tasmanie were also identified.

Principal found fossils with Riversleigh

Mammals

  • Yalkaparidon , strange a Marsupial.

  • Ekaltadeta , a carnivorous Kangaroo rat.
  • Silvabestius , a giant Wombat.
  • Fangaroo a Kangaroo.
  • Wakaleo , a kind of marsupial carnivore.
  • Priscileo , another kind of marsupial carnivore.
  • Burramys , the dwarf Possum of the mountains.
  • Nimbacinus , an ancestor of the wolf of Tasmanie.
  • Obdurodon , a giant Ornithorynque.
  • Brachipposideros , old a Bat.
  • Nimiokoala , old a Koala.
  • Yarala , a Bandicoot with long nose.
  • Paljara , small a Possum woolly with tail out of ring.

Birds

  • Pengana , a Bird of prey.

  • Cockatoo a bird recently discovered (February 2007).
  • Menura tyawanoides , a prehistoric Lyrebird.
  • the oldest fossil of the family of the Orthonychidae.

Reptiles

  • Trilophosuchus , a arboricolous Crocodile.
  • Baru , a crocodile which dropped itself from the trees to catch its preys.
  • Montypythonoides (= Morelia ), a python.
  • Yurlungur , Nanowana and Wonambi , of the snakes of the family missing from the Madtsoiidae.

External bonds

  • Site of UNESCO containing of information on Riversleigh, Australia

  • Australian Site on Riversleigh
  • World Heritage: Australian Fossil Mammal Sites
  • Information on the fossils of Riversleigh, Australian Museum
  • “The Riversleigh Society supports scientific research At Riversleigh”

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