''Ekaltadeta ima'' is a species of

potoroid Potoroidae is a family of marsupials, small Australian animals known as bettongs, potoroos, and rat-kangaroos. All are rabbit-sized, brown, jumping marsupials and resemble a large rodent or a very small wallaby. Taxonomy The potoroids are sma ...

marsupial that existed in

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

Australia.

Taxonomy

The description of ''Ekaltadeta ima'' was assigned to a new genus ''

Ekaltadeta ''Ekaltadeta'' is an extinct genus of marsupials related to the modern musky rat-kangaroos. ''Ekaltadelta'' was present in what is today the Riversleigh formations in Northern Queensland from the Late Oligocene to the Miocene. They are hypothes ...

'' as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

in a study of fossil specimens published by Mike Archer and

Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, Conservation biology, conservationist, Exploration, explorer, author, Science communication, science communicator, activist and p ...

in 1985. The specific diagnosis of the type and genus was revised in a 1996 study by

Stephen Wroe Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

of propleonine taxa, when new fossil specimens allowed comparison with the type material and provided direct evidence of other characteristics. A largely complete skull of ''E. ima'' was described by Wroe in 1998 , prompting another reinvestigation of the propleonine clade which the author had suggested contained

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

and

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

species. The name ''Ekaltadeta'' is derived from two words in an indigenous language associated with the

McDonnell Ranges The MacDonnell Ranges, or Tjoritja in Arrernte, is a mountain range located in southern Northern Territory. MacDonnell Ranges is also the name given to an interim Australian bioregion broadly encompassing the mountain range, with an area of .< ...

, combining the words for powerful, ''ekalta'', and ''eta'' to describe the "powerful tooth". The specific epithet ''ima'' means "condemned to die" in the language of the same people.

Description

A species known by fossil taxa uncovered at the

Riversleigh World Heritage Area Riversleigh World Heritage Area is Australia's most famous fossil location, recognised for the series of well preserved fossils deposited from the Late Oligocene to more recent geological periods. The fossiliferous limestone system is located ne ...

. The remnant and recently extinct potoroids were dispersed throughout Australia, represented by herbivorous species of '' Potorous''. ''Ekaltadeta ima'' was a larger carnivore of Miocene Australia, although smaller than its sister species '' Ekaltadeta jamiemulvaneyi''. The skull and dentition exhibits features associated with carnivory, and seems to consumed the flesh of other animals, but evidence of the species being solely carnivorous is inconclusive and it is likely to have been omnivorous. Some of the teeth and development of the skull exhibit characters associate with a carnivore, projecting above the teeth row to allow a vertical shearing action used by larger mammalian predators.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2332914 Miocene marsupials Fossil taxa described in 1985 Riversleigh fauna Diprotodonts