The mammalian fauna of Madura Cave, Western Australia. Part IX, the placental mammals

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 4 days ago

ABSTRACT – Placental mammals, recovered in 1955 and 1964 from Madura Cave, N-62, on the Roe Plain in Western Australia, are described here. This material is late Pleistocene and early Holocene in age, based on C14 dates from bone and is part of a much larger fauna previously reported elsewhere. Rodents are the most abundant and diverse group of placental mammals within the Madura Cave fauna, represented by seven taxa including Leporillus conditor, L. apicalis, Pseudomys bolami, P. gouldii, P. australis, Pseudomys sp. cf. desertor, and Notomys sp. indet. Only two of these taxa are known from the Nullarbor region today and Leporillus apicalis is extinct. Bats are also present in the Madura Cave fauna with at least two taxa represented, including Chalinolobus sp. cf. morio. All specimens are dissociated and fragmentary, probably being derived from disintegrated owl pellets that were originally deposited near the mouth of the cave and then redeposited in the cave sediments during storms. The dingo Canis familiaris and rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus are represented by single specimens found on the cave floor. The most significant change in composition of the entire mammalian fauna is recorded between the early Holocene and present day. Although increasing aridity from the late Pleistocene to early Holocene might have been a contributing factor, the dramatic decrease in mammal diversity in the Madura Cave fauna is most probably a result of European settlement and introduced predators.