The Big Sink Local Fauna: a lower Pliocene mammalian fauna from the Wellington Caves complex, Wellington, New South Wales

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 9 years ago

Abstract: This paper describes the mammalian fauna from the Big Sink unit, exposed in the Big Sink, a man-made 'doline' or quarry, which forms part of the Phosphate Mine at Wellington Caves, New South Wales. The age of the Big Sink Local Fauna is determined as early Pliocene by biocorrelation with radiometrically and palaeomagnetically dated faunas from Queensland, Victoria and the Murray Basin of N.s.W. Small mammals include a new species of dasyurid of uncertain generic identity, "Dasycercus" worboysi; and unidentified species of Antechinus and Sminthopsis; Perameles bowensis, known also from the Bow Local Fauna in northeastern N.S.W., as well as an undescribed new genus and species of peramelid; an unidentified species of Cercartetus; Pseudocheirus sp. cf. P. stirtoni, and one conilurin rodent. Protemnodon sp. cf. P. devisi, a species otherwise known from Pliocene deposits in the Murray Basin, the Lake Eyre Basin and the Chinchilla Sands of Queensland, is the most abundant macropodine. Others include Protemnodon bandharr sp. nov.; a species of Kurrabi, d. K. merriwaensis; and dental fragments representing four other undescribed macropodine species. Large carnivores are represented by Thylacinus sp. and Thylacoleo crassidentatus. The high relative abundance of the ghost bat, Macroderma koppa, suggests that the site was originally a large cave which may have been occupied by a ghost bat maternal colony, and also acted as a carnivore den. None of the species so far recorded from the Big Sink Local Fauna occurs in historical fossil collections from Wellington Caves, nor in more recent collections from the Pleistocene-aged Mitchell Cave beds in Bone Cave and Cathedral Cave deposits, supporting the hypothesis that the Big Sink deposits differ in age from others in the caves complex. The fauna suggests a mesic climate and forested or woodland vegetation, but does not imply rainforest conditions.

Author(s) Lyndall Dawson, Jeanette Muirhead and Stephen Wroe : Part 1
Page Number
265