The mammalian fauna of Madura Cave, Western Australia.
Subtitle: Macropodidae: Potoroinae
By: Ernest L. Lundelius, Jr. -- William D. Turnbull --.
Contributors: Turnbull, William D.
Series: Fieldiana -- new ser., no. 14; Field Museum of Natural History. Publication 1354; Publication (Field Museum of Natural History) -- 1354
Publisher: Field Museum of Natural History
Published: 1984
Place of publication: Chicago
Subjects: Paleontology.; Mammals, Fossil.; Paleontology -- Pleistocene.; Paleontology -- Australia -- Western Australia.
Other titles: Madura Cave
Description: The potoroines represented in the Madura Cave deposits are Potorous platyops, Caloprymnus campestris, Bettongia lesueur, and Bettongia penicillata. -- Potorous platyops, found in Units 1 through 4-5, is not significantly different from Pleistocene, Holocene, or modern specimens from other parts of Australia. -- Caloprymnus campestris, which occurs in all units, shows no significant morphological or size change through the sequence and is smaller than the samples from teh Pleistocene of Lake Menindee and from the known Recent material, with no overlap in size. -- Bettongia is represented by B. lesueur, which is present throughout the stratigraphic sequence, and B. penicillata, which is absent only from Unit 7. The Madura Cave B. lesueur is smaller in size than other Pleistocene and modern samples, but B. penicillata shows no differences. -- Today, four species of potoroines are known only from an area near Albany, Western Australia. The presence of Potorous platyops suggests that more effective moisture existed in the vicinity of Madura Cave when these sediments were deposited than at present. The association of now allopatric species such as Potorous platyops and Caloprymnus campestris indicates a more equable climate in the past.