New research suggests massive marsupials lived in treetops in early Australia
Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - 12:31
in Paleontology & Archaeology
(Phys.org)—Researchers from the University of New South Wales and the University of Adelaide in studying fossils of Nimbadon lavarackorum, an extinct wombat-like marsupial, have concluded that the animal likely lived among the treetops of Australia's rain forests approximately 15 million years ago. The new research is based on an analysis of bones discovered in a cave in the Riversleigh in north-west Queensland, the team explains in their paper published in the journal PLUS ONE, and make N. lavarackorum, at approximately 150 pounds, the largest herbivore to have lived in the forested canopies that once flourished in the area.