Djarthia
Extinct genus of marsupial
Djarthia (lit. 'elder sister') is an extinct monotypic genus of marsupial. It is the oldest marsupial found in Australia, discovered at the Murgon fossil site in south-eastern Queensland.
D. murgonensis was described from material identified as Early Eocene Tingamarra fauna, first published in 1999. It was placed with the clade Australidelphia, which includes the marsupials that dispersed throughout Eastern Gondwanan supercontinent during the Eocene and remain extant in Australia and South America. Skeletal material described include a molar, incomplete cochlear and tarsal bone either complete or in fragmented state of preservation.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Djarthia”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Djarthia murgonensis.jpg by Robin M. D. Beck, Henk Godthelp, Vera Weisbecker, Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, CC BY 2.5
- Marsupials.jpg by Robin M. D. Beck, Henk Godthelp, Vera Weisbecker, Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, CC BY 2.5
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