order
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
...
Peramelemorphia includes the
bandicoot
Bandicoots are a group of more than 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial, largely nocturnal marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia. They are endemic to the Australia–New Guinea region, including the Bismarck Archipela ...
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
-
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
and most have the characteristic bandicoot shape: a plump, arch-backed body with a long, delicately tapering snout, very large upright ears, relatively long, thin legs, and a thin tail. Their size varies from about 140 grams up to 4 kilograms, but most species are about one kilogram.
Phylogeny
Placement within Marsupialia
The position of the Peramelemorphia within the marsupial family tree has long been puzzling and controversial. There are two morphological features in the order that appear to show a clear evolutionary link with another marsupial group: the type of foot, and the teeth. Unfortunately, these clear signposts point in opposite directions.
All members of the order are polyprotodont (have several pairs of lower front teeth)—in the case of the Peramelemorphia, three pairs. This suggests that they have evolved within Dasyuromorphia (marsupial carnivores). On the other hand, they also have an unusual feature in their feet: the second and third toes are fused together. This condition is called syndactyly, and is characteristic of the
Diprotodontia
Diprotodontia (, from Greek language, Greek "two forward teeth") is the largest extant order (biology), order of marsupials, with about 155 species, including the kangaroos, Wallaby, wallabies, Phalangeriformes, possums, koala, wombats, and many ...
(the order of marsupial
herbivore
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...
s that includes
kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
s,
wombat
Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials of the family Vombatidae that are native to Australia. Living species are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . They are adaptable and habitat tolerant, and are ...
s,
possums
Possum may refer to:
Animals
* Didelphimorphia, or (o)possums, an order of marsupials native to the Americas
** Didelphis, a genus of marsupials within Didelphimorphia
*** Common opossum, native to Central and South America
*** Virginia opossum, ...
, and many others).
Attempts to resolve this puzzle include the view that the bandicoot group evolved from the carnivores, retaining the polyprotodont dentition, and independently evolving a syndactyl hind foot; the contrary view that syndactyly is so unusual that it is unlikely to have evolved twice and therefore the bandicoot group must have evolved from a possum-like diprotodont creature, and re-evolved its extra teeth. A third view suggests that the bandicoot group evolved from a primitive carnivore, developed the syndactylous hind foot as a specialisation for climbing, and the diprotodonts then split off and evolved the two-tooth jaw that gives them their name. Recent molecular level investigations do not so far appear to have resolved the puzzle, but do strongly suggest that whatever the relationship of the bandicoot group to the other marsupial orders may be, it is a distant one.
Relationships within Peramelemorphia
Recent molecular analyses have resulted in a
phylogenetic
In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...
reconstruction of the members of Peramelemorphia with quite strong support. The most basal split separates Thylacomyidae ('' Macrotis'') from all other bandicoots. Probably the next to diverge was the recently extinct Chaeropodidae (''
Chaeropus
''Chaeropus'', known as the pig-footed bandicoots, is a genus of small marsupials that became extinct during the 20th century. They were the only members of the family Chaeropodidae in order Peramelemorphia (bandicoots and bilbies), with unusua ...
''). The remaining taxa comprise the
Peramelidae
The marsupial family Peramelidae contains the extant bandicoots. They are found throughout Australia and New Guinea, with at least some species living in every available habitat, from rainforest to desert. Four fossil peramelids are described. O ...
Many specimens of modern peramelemorphian (e.g. ''Perameles'' spp. and ''Isoodon'' spp.) have been recovered in the fossil record from
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
and
Holocene
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
fossil localities. However, very few fossil species have been recovered to date. The first species of fossil peramelemorphian was described by R. A. Stirton in 1955. The specimen Stirton described was a partial lower jaw from the
Tirari Desert
The Tirari Desert is a desert in the eastern part of the Far North region of South Australia. It stretches 212 km from north to south and 153 km from east to west.
Location and description
The Tirari Desert features salt lakes and ...
in Central Australia,
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Bluff Downs fossil site, Allingham Formation, in northern
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, also Pliocene in age. The tooth was similar to that of species of ''Perameles'', and was therefore named '' Perameles allinghamensis''.
In 1995, the first
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), 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 mea ...
species was described from Riversleigh, and was named '' Yarala burchfieldi'' by Dr Jeannette Muirhead. The species was represented by several upper and lower jaws, which were smaller than any living bandicoots and had a very primitive dentition. A skull was later recovered in 2000, the first for any fossil peramelemorphian to date. Features of the skull and dentition suggested that ''Yarala burchfieldi'' was distinct from other peramelemorphians, and for this reason, a new Superfamily Yaraloidea and Family Yaralidae were erected to classify this species.
In 1997, Muirhead, Dawson and Archer described a new species of ''Perameles'', '' Perameles bowensis'', from teeth recovered from two Pliocene fossil localities, Bow and Wellington Caves. The same species was later reported in 2000 from
Chinchilla, Queensland
Chinchilla is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. Chinchilla is known as the 'Melon Capital of Australia', and plays host to a Melon Festival every second year in Febr ...
, by Mackness and colleagues. In 2002, Price described a new species '' Perameles'', '' Perameles sobbei'', from the
Darling Downs
The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...
(Pleistocene in age), south-eastern Queensland. This species was represented by a lower jaw and a few isolated lower molars. Additional material were later described in 2005 from the same site, including upper molars.
A second species of ''Yarala'', ''Yarala kida'', was described in 2006 by Schwartz. This species was recovered from Kangaroo Well, a late
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...
site from the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
in Australia. This species is thought to be even more primitive than ''Yarala burchfieldi''.
The second fossil skull of any fossil peramelemorphian was also recovered from Miocene sites of Riversleigh. In fact, more than one skull of this new species was found (and several lower and upper jaws), and was significantly different from any other bandicoot to erect a new genus, '' Galadi''. The species was named ''Galadi speciosus'' by Travouillon and colleagues. It was short-snouted unlike modern bandicoots suggesting that it was more carnivorous than its omnivorous modern relatives. Its relationship to other bandicoots is unclear, but it was likely to be less primitive than ''Yarala'' but more primitive than living bandicoots. An additional three species of ''Galadi'' were later described in 2013 and named ''Galadi grandis'', ''Galadi amplus'' and ''Galadi adversus''.
Gurovich et al. (2013) described a new species of mouse-sized bandicoot from Riversleigh and from Kutjamarpu, Southern Australia. The species, named '' Bulungu palara'', is represented by a skull and several lower and upper jaws. Two other species in this
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
were also described from the Etadunna Formation in South Australia, ''Bulungu muirheadae'' which was the oldest fossil bandicoot recovered as of 2013 (about 24 million years old), and ''Bulungu campbelli''.
The oldest modern bandicoot (peramelid) and the oldest bilby (Thylacomyid) were later discovered by Travouillon et al., 2014 from Riversleigh World Heritage Area, from middle Miocene fossil deposits (around 15 million years old). The peramelid, ''
Crash bandicoot
''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series c ...
'', was named after the famous video game character and is only represented by a single upper jaw. The bilby, '' Liyamayi dayi''named after geologist and philanthropist Robert Day, is only known from 3 teeth (2 upper molar, 1 lower molar).
The first record of sexual dimorphism (difference in size between males and females) in a fossil bandicoot was reported from two new species from Riversleigh (Travouillon et al. 2014). Named '' Madju variae'' and '' Madju encorensis'', they are closely related to modern bandicoots, but do not fall in any modern family, as did '' Galadi'' and '' Bulungu''. Instead they are classified as Perameloid, with all known Peremelemorphian, to the exclusion of yaralids. '' Madju variae'' is also unusual in preserving an ontogenetic series (age series from pouch young to adult), the second of any fossil marsupial mammal in Australia. The study of this ontogenetic series lead researchers to think that '' Madju variae'' developed slow than modern bandicoots, much more like a bilby, and therefore the rapid development of modern bandicoots must have evolved after the middle Miocene, when Australia started to become more arid.Travouillon, K. J., Archer, M., Hand, S. J. and Muirhead, J., 2014. Sexually dimorphic bandicoots (Marsupialia: Peramelemorphia) from the Oligo-Miocene of Australia, first cranial ontogeny for fossil bandicoots and new species descriptions. ''Journal of Mammalian Evolution''. doi:10.1007/s10914-014-9271-8
List of prehistoric mammals
This is an incomplete list of prehistoric mammals. It does not include List of mammals, extant mammals or List of extinct mammals, recently extinct mammals. For extinct primate species, see: list of fossil primates.Mikko's Phylogeny Archiv
Ma ...