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PALAEONTOLOGY:
- PREHISTORIC RANGE OF THE THYLACINE -
(page 2)
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Palaeontological evidence (continued):
 
fossil thylacine maxillary section - image © C. Campbell
fossil thylacine mandible - image © C. Campbell
fossil thylacine canine tooth - image © C. Campbell
fossil thylacine partial rostrum (snout) - image © C. Campbell
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Some examples of T. cynocephalus fossils (Pleistocene) found in the Wellington Caves, New South Wales: a section of a left maxilla, containing the teeth P3 through M4; a close-up of the teeth (M1-4) in a right mandible; an isolated canine tooth; a partial rostrum (snout) from a large individual, with alveoli of the canine teeth visible in the left of the image.
Courtesy: Australian Museum.
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    In Tasmania, T. cynocephalus fossils have been found at Scotchtown (Gill 1953).  In Victoria, fossil material has been found at Keilor (Marshall 1974), in a cave near Gismore (Gill 1953), at Buchan (Hope 1974), Mt. Hamilton, 175 km west of Melbourne (Wakefield 1963), and at Nelson (Colliver 1938).  In South Australia, specimens of Pleistocene age were discovered within Victoria Cave, near Naracoorte (Smith 1972).  At nearby Henschke's Quarry Cave, more Pleistocene specimens were found which are around 32,000 years old (Pledge 1974), and occur in association with the fossils of marsupial species that are characteristic of the dry sclerophyll forests and dense heath habitats which still exist in the region today.  Additional South Australian localities for thylacine material include the Buckalowie Caves near Carrieton (Jones 1923), and an isolated, malformed tooth from Fromm's Landing, dated at 3,800 BP (Mulvaney et al. 1964, and Archer 1971).

    In New South Wales, thylacine fossils have been found in the Wellington Caves (Owen 1877), the Wombeyan Caves (Broom 1896), and Lake Menindee (Tedford 1967).  The Lake Menindee specimens were collected from a stratum between two layers of charcoal, dated at 26,300 and 18,800 years BP respectively.  In Queensland, sites include Cement Mills, Gore (Bartholomai 1977), Ellangowan, Pilton, Gowrie Creek and Chinchilla (DeVis 1894).

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localities of Quaternary mammal remains in Australasia - image © C. Campbell
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Localities of representative Quaternary (Pleistocene and Holocene epochs) land mammal faunas in Australasia, a number of which are mentioned in the text (after Archer et al. 1984).
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                 1.   Tari
                 2.   Nombe & Kiowa
                 3.   Glen Garland
                 4.   Chillagoe Caves & Tea Tree Cave
                 5.   Herveys Range
                 6.   Marmor
                 7.   East Darling Downs
                 8.   Gore
                 9.   Russenden Cave & The Joint
                10.  Cuddie Springs
                11.  Bingara
                12.  Murrurundi
                13.  Scone
                14.  Mendooran
                15.  Wellington Caves
                16.  Douglas Cave
                17.  Wombeyan Caves
                18.  Lake George
                19.  Mount Fairy
                20.  Cloggs Cave & Pyramids Cave
                21.  Brighton
                22.  Queenscliff
                23.  Maribyrnong
                24.  Lancefield
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                25.  Kow Swamp
                26.  Loddon River
                27.  Waurn Ponds
                28.  Colac
                29.  Torquay
                30.  Lake Colongulac
                31.  Ulverstone
                32.  Scotchdown Cave
                33.  Mowbray Swamp
                34.  Pleisto Scene Cave
                35.  Porteus Spring Mound
                36.  Port Fairy
                37.  Portland
                38.  Spring Creek
                39.  Grange Burn & Muddy Creek
                40.  McEachern's Cave
                41.  Mount Gambier Caves
                42.  Green Waterhole
                43.  Victoria Cave
                44.  Fromm's landing
                45.  Lake Victoria & Frenchman's Creek
                46.  Lake Mungo
                47. Tandou
                48. Menindee
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                49.  Bileroo Creek
                50.  Yanda
                51.  Lake Callabonna
                52.  Malkuni
                53.  Kanunka
                54.  Cooper Creek
                55.  Warburton River
                56.  Hookina Creek
                57.  Buckalowie Caves
                58.  Lake Fowler
                59.  Seton Rock Shelter
                60.  Rocky River
                61.  Koonalda Cave
                62.  Thylacine Hole
                63.  Horseshoe Cave
                64.  Madura Cave
                65.  Murra-el-elevyn Cave
                66.  Balladonia
                67.  Devil's Lair
                68.  Labyrinth Cave
                69.  Mammoth Cave
                70.  Hastings Cave
                71.  Murchison River
                72.  Cape Range Caves
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Acknowledgement: This subsection of the Thylacine Museum has been referenced (in part) from: SMITH, M., 1982. Review of the Thylacine (Marsupialia, Thylacinidae). In "Carnivorous Marsupials - Vol. 1" (Ed. M. Archer). Roy. Zool. Soc. N.S.W.: Sydney. pp. 237-53.
References
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