Table 1. Fossil records and archaeological evidence extracted from the FosSahul database used to infer ages for megafauna extinction and first human occurrence.
| Genera | Species (n records/species) | Total records | Total time range (kyr±1σ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Congruus | C. kitchenerii (5) | 5 | 63±9 – 136.8±2.6 |
| Diprotodon | Indet. (20), D. optatum (9) | 29 | 44.2±5.7 – 1018.5±122.5 |
| Genyornis | G. newtoni (252) | 252 | 35±0.4 – 139.9±0 |
| Macropus | Indet. (15), M. ferragus (3), M. nov (8), M. pearsoni (1) | 27 | 43.3±0.5 – 876±206 |
| Megalibgwilia | Indet. (1), M. ramsayi (6) | 7 | 56±4 – 136.8±2.6 |
| Metasthenurus | M. newtonae (8) | 12 | 56±4 – 535±49 |
| Palorchestes | Indet. (1), P. azael (4) | 5 | 56±4 – 257±21 |
| Phascolonus | P. gigas (6) | 8 | 46±6 – 122±22 |
| Procoptodon | Indet. (1), P. browneorum (28), P. gilli (16), P. goliah (12) | 57 | 40±0.2 – 535±49 |
| Protemnodon | Indet. (6), P. anak (16), P. brehus (19), P. roechus (13) | 54 | 40.8±0.3 – 535±49 |
| Sarcophilus | S. laniarius (9) | 12 | 46±6 – 535±49 |
| Simosthenurus | Indet. (2), S. baileyi (1), S. maddocki (7), S. occidentalis (26), S. pales (11) | 47 | 44.9±1.3 – 535±49 |
| Sthenurus | Indet. (2), S. andersoni (13), S. atlas (2), S. stirlingi (1), S. tindalei (3) | 21 | 52±8 – 535±49 |
| Thylacinus | T. cynocephalus (35) | 35 | 3.5±0.1 – 297±9 |
| Thylacoleo | T. carnifex (37) | 37 | 44.9±1.3 – 535±49 |
| Zygomaturus | Z. trilobus (34) | 34 | 44.9±1.3 – 535±49 |
| Homo | H. sapiens (436) | 436 | 0.07±0.04 – 55.5±8.2 |
Indet, indeterminate species identification.
Age reliability was assessed following established quality-rating criteria20 (see details in Methods). Genera with at least four reliably dated fossil records (the minimum number required to run ensemble-hindcasting models17) were used for extinction-window estimates (Fig. 1a – c); this resulted in the removal of seven genera (Borungaboodie, Progura, Propleopus, Troposodon, Varanus, Wonambi and Zaglossus) from our analyses.