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Meet the megafauna of Alcoota

The total number of fossil species found at Alcoota now stands at 40.
Here we highlight some of the significant species found. 

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Baru iylwenpeny

Baru ilywenpeny  was a large crocodile about the same size of a modern saltwater crocodile. Baru  was the largest predator of the Alcoota ecosystem. 

Unlike modern crocodiles, Baru  has a shorter, deeper snout with an overbite and a more muscular, heavily built body. 

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Dromornis stirtoni

 A large male Dromornis may have reached 3.2 m in height and weighed as much as 750kg - the weight of an adult African buffalo! It is one of the largest, if not the largest bird to have ever existed. 

Dromornis were large flightless birds. They would have fed on leaves and fruits from trees. They swallowed stones to help grind up their food. 

Although they look a bit like emus, they are more closely related to ducks and geese. Their leg and foot bones are notably thick and robust for their length suggesting that Dromornis was not a fast runner.

Wakaleo alcootaensis

Wakaleo alcootaensis was the size of a leopard and was the largest mammalian carnivore in the Alcoota Fauna.

It is also extremely rare, all that has ever been found of its skull at Alcoota is three incomplete fragments of jaws and a few isolated teeth. Relatives of W. alcootaensis have been found elsewhere in Australia and we can use them to help in our understanding of this species. 

The whole family is commonly referred to as "marsupial lions" but despite their predatory habits, they are actually related to herbivorous marsupials such as wombats and koalas. 

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Thylacinus potens

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Thylacinus potens from Alcoota was related to the famous, and sadly extinct, Tasmanian Tiger. The jaws of the T. potens are larger than those of the Tasmanian tiger which initially suggests that the T. potens was a larger animal perhaps the size of a modern grey wolf. 

However, the rest of the skeleton is the same size as the Tasmanian tiger indicating T.potens had a larger head and might have looked more like a bulldog. 

Ilbandornis lawsoni

Ilbandornis lawsoni  is a genus of large flightless birds and is in the same family as the Dromornis stirtoni. 


Ibandornis lawsoni  is the same size and proportions of an ostrich including the elongate lower leg and foot bones that indicate a fast-running species. 

They may have preferred more open areas, where speed is needed to escape predators. 

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Kolopsis torus

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Kolopsis torus is a very abundant species at Alcoota with over two hundred individuals being excavated. They were sheep sized browsing mammals, related to wombats. Although they are related to wombats they differ from them in some key points. 

They did not burrow like wombats, instead they strode along the ground and in some early members of the group, they climbed trees. 

The K. torus teeth are low crowned with two tall crests, which are good for chopping up leaves but would rapidly wear out if they were to eat a lot of grass. While wombats have molars with flat grinding surfaces and have tall, ever-growing crowns which are excellent for a grass rich diet. 

Plaisiodon centralis

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Plaisiodon centralis is closely related to the Kolopsis torus but grew to a larger size. 

This cow-sized mammal was the largest marsupial of the Alcoota fauna. Like Kolospis this species was four footed and walked rather slowly on flat feet. 

The proportions of its legs indicate that it was not built for speed and probably relied on its large size and living in groups to protect it from predators.

Palorchestes painei

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The lifestyles of some extinct species are easy to determine by comparing it to living relatives or analogous living species. However, this is not the case for Palorchestes painei, making them such as puzzle. 

They are part of the diprotodontis family such as Kolopsis torus and Plaisiodon centralis, they walked flat footed on four legs but other aspects of their anatomy are unusual. 

Their eyes were tiny and placed high up on the skull suggesting poor eyesight. Based on their expanded nasal opening it appears they have trunks. However, their teeth are similar to kangaroos meaning they browsed on more abrasive plants. 

Dorcopsoides fossilis

Alongside the Kolopsis torus, Dorcopsoides fossilis are the most abundant fossils found at Alcoota with hundreds of individuals.

Dorcopsoides was a small species of wallaby probably weighing around 6-7 kg which is the weight range of modern tammar wallabies. It belongs to a distinct tribe of kangaroos and wallabies that are called the dorcopsins. 

Dorcopsins are now extinct from Australia but live in New Guinea. Modern Dorcopsins are creatures of wet rainforests but they would have lived in a broader range of habitats in the past.

D. fossilis hopped its way through the most densely wooded patches of Alcoota. 

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Meet the Alcoota 40

Common Name - Scientific Name (Genus, species) 
 

  1. Yabby - Indeterminate parastacid 

  2. Tree Frog - Indeterminate pelodryadid 

  3. Murray's snake-necked turtle - Chelodina murrayi

  4. Goanna - Varanus sp. 

  5. Large Alcoota crocodile - Baru iylwenpeny 

  6. Terrestrial crocodile - Qunikana sp. cf. babarra 

  7. Dwarf Alcoota crocodile - Ultrastenos sp. 

  8. Little emu - Dromaius arleyekweke 

  9. Lawson's mihirung - IIbandornis lawsoni 

  10. Woodburne's mihirung - IIbandornis woodburnei 

  11. Sitirton's mihirung - Dromornis stirtoni 

  12. Large Alcoota duck - Awengkere magnanatis 

  13. Duck - Indeterminate anatid 

  14. New Holland Flamingo - Phoenicopterus novaehollandiae*

  15. Little Flamingo - Phoeniconaias* sp. 

  16. Darter - Anhinga sp. 

  17. Stork - Ephippiorhynchus* sp. 

  18. Jacana - Indeterminate jacanid 

  19. Woodcock - Scolopax sp. 

  20. Hawk - Indeterminate accipitrid 

  21. Eagle - Aquila sp. 

  22. Roth's Thylacine - Tyarrpecinus rothi 

  23. Powerful Thylacine - Thylacinus potens 

  24. Megirian's Thylacine - Thylacinus megiriani 

  25. Little Marsupial Lion - Indeterminate thylacoleonid 

  26. Alcoota Marsupial Lion - Wakaleo alcootaensis 

  27. Wombat - Indeterminate vombatid 

  28. Paine's marsupial tapir - Palorchestes painei 

  29. Pyramid-toothed diprotodontid - Pyramios alcootense 

  30. Webb's diprotodontid - Alkwertatherium webbi 

  31. Large Alcoota zygomaturine - Plaisiodon centralis 

  32. Small Alcoota zygomaturine - Kolopsis torus 

  33. Ongeva zygomaturine - Kolopsis yperus 

  34. Rat Kangaroo - Bettongia* sp.

  35. Ringtail possum - Pseudochirops* sp.

  36. Stem short-faced kangaroo - cf Rhizosthenurus sp. 

  37. Puckridge's kangaroo - Hadronomas puckridgi 

  38. Short-faced kangaroo - Archaeosimos sp. 

  39. Ongeva Wallaby - Dorcopsoides cowpatensis 

  40. Alcoota Wallaby - Dorcopsoides fossilis 

  * = uncertainty over identification 
sp = there is no commitment to a species name, either there isn't a species name yet or the remains found are not sufficient enough to identify it to a species. 
cf  = similar to but not quite the same as

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