As part of the Western Australian Museum’s second year of the Harry Butler Lecture Series: In the Wild West, Museum palaeontology curator Dr Mikael Siversson will present two fascinating lectures in Albany next week: one on WA Ichthyosaurs – the last of their kind and the other on Thylacoleo – marsupial bolt cutter from hell.

WA Ichthyosaurs – the last of their kind

A single bone from a flipper found in the hills north of Kalbarri represents the last record in Australia of ichthyosaurs, large dolphin-like marine reptiles that swam in our waters some 93 million years ago.

In his lecture WA Ichthyosaurs – the last of their kind, Dr Siversson will illustrate the rise and fall of the ichthyosaurs and outline the catastrophic impact of rapid global warming on marine life in all but the shallowest parts of the oceans. 

“More than 245 million years ago a new breed of reptiles had returned to the sea,” Dr Siversson said.

“Over countless generations these reptiles developed fins, flippers, a spindle-shaped body, huge eyes and a long narrow snout - these were the ichthyosaurs that hunted fish and primitive squid in the twilight zone of the ocean.”

Thylacoleo – marsupial bolt cutter from hell

“By the late Oligocene period, 25 million years ago, a major group of plant eating marsupials appear in the fossil record of Australia, the diprotodontians meaning two-first-teeth, referring to the greatly enlarged inner pair of incisors.

“Remarkably, one group of diprotodontians, the marsupial lions, soon reverted to a carnivorous lifestyle and descended down the treacherous evolutionary path of increasingly extreme specialisation,” Dr Siversson said.

“During the course of their 25 million years of evolution, marsupial lions developed unique, bolt cutter-like cheek teeth and enormous jaw muscles, enabling them to sever the wind pipe of their prey,” Dr Siversson said.

Thylacoleo carnifex, the last of the marsupial lions, was the most fearsome mammalian predator to evolve in Australia and became extinct some 45 to 35 thousand years ago.

In his lecture, Dr Siversson will discuss the evolutionary history and lifestyle of marsupial lions, the sites in WA where Thylacoleo remains have been found, and the extinction of Thylacoleo and other megafauna species.

Dr Siversson is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia and a leading authority on Cretaceous lamniform sharks. His publications also include work on mammals, dinosaurs, pterosaurs and marine reptiles from the Age of the Dinosaurs.     

The Harry Butler lecture series: In the Wild West is proudly presented by the WA Museum in partnership with Chevron Australia. The series showcases the work of Museum scientists, curators and associates in the areas of natural and social sciences.

NB: Interview opportunities available

LECTURE: Western Australian ichthyosaurs – the last of their kind
WHEN: 7.00pm Thursday 16 June, 2011

LECTURE: Thylacoleo – marsupial bolt cutter from hell
WHEN: 2.00pm Friday 17 June, 2011

WHERE: Western Australian Museum – Albany, Residency Road, Albany
BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL: online at www.museum.wa.gov.au/inthewildwest
COST:  By gold coin donation. 

Teresa Belcher, Western Australian Museum: T. 9212 3856