First fossil record of Perameles fasciata from New South Wales and Queensland: reassessment of Perameles sobbei

Abstract

The first fossil record of the Liverpool Plains striped bandicoot, Perameles fasciata, is presented. Since this species was split from its west coast counterpart, Perameles bougainville, no fossil record had been reported. Perameles fasciata is found in five fossil sites in Queensland and New South Wales, all Pleistocene in age. Perameles sobbei, described from the Darling Downs in Queensland, is found to be a junior synonym of P. fasciata, based on morphometrics and diagnostic morphological features. A morphological phylogeny finds that P. fasciata is more closely related to Perameles nasuta, Perameles pallescens and Perameles gunnii than P. bougainville. Perameles fasciata was likely more widespread in the Pleistocene, but by the Holocene had only survived on the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales until its extinction in the 1860s, probably as a result of land clearing and the introduction of foxes. While P. bougainville has been translocated in New South Wales, P. gunnii, which co-occurred with P. fasciata, is a better ecological analogue because of it is similar size, morphology and phylogenetic affinity.

Kenny J. Travouillon [[email protected]], Collections and Research Centre, Western Australian Museum, 49 Kew Street, Welshpool, WA 6106, Australia.

Key words:

• Bandicoot
• morphological phylogeny
• systematics
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

I thank the staff of the AM, QM, NHMUK, Museum Victoria and MNHN for providing access to the modern and fossil specimens in their collection. I thank Michael Archer for allowing access to the Floraville material, and Julien Louys and Gilbert Price for allowing access to the Colosseum Cave material. Finally, I thank Peter Bishop for photographing the specimens from MCZ, and Mark Omura for helping source information.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental material

Supplemental materials for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2023.2175034.

Additional information

Funding

Travel to museums to access material was funded by a Churchill Fellowship sponsored by the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), and an ABRS grant.