Table 1.
Megafauna species within MIS 3 from South Walker Creek and other Fitzroy River basin sites compared with species lists from other similarly-aged regions of Australia.
| Region | TAS | SW-WA | Lake Eyre Basin | Murray-Darling Basin | Fitzroy River Basin | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sites | Willandra Lakes | Ned’s Gully | Cuddie Springs SU6A + B | SW9 | SW3 | SWCC | SWJ | Other sites | ||||
|
Chronometric ages (ka) A or A* ages in bold |
48– ~41 n = 12 |
50-41 ± 2 n = 12 |
47.5 ± 2.5 n = 11 |
>33– <36 n = 3 |
47 ± 4 n = 2 |
~35 ka– >45–~50 n = 5 |
40.1 ± 1.7 n = 24 |
47.0 ± 3.2 n = 5 |
58.2 ± 6.1 n = 2 |
<65.6 ± 2.2 a n = 6 |
<50 | |
| Dating Criteria rating11 | A–A* | A | A + A* | A + B | A | A* + B | A + A* | A | A | A | N/A | |
| †Progura (egg shell) | MeH | – | ||||||||||
| Megafauna | ||||||||||||
| †Genyornis | McH | – | ||||||||||
| Dromaius sp. | McH | – | – | – | – | Y | – | |||||
| †Pallimnarchus sp. | MC | Y | – | – | – | b | ||||||
| Crocodylus sp. cf. C. porosus | MC | Y | – | – | ||||||||
| † ‘Quinkana’ sp. | MC | – | – | – | ||||||||
| †Varanus sp. (large) | LC | Y | – | c | ||||||||
| †Varanus priscus | MC | Y | – | – | – | |||||||
| Macropus fuliginosus | MeH | – | ||||||||||
| Macropus giganteus | MeH | – | – | |||||||||
| †Macropus titan | McH | Y | – | Y | – | |||||||
| †Macropus sp. (giant) | McH | Y | – | – | – | |||||||
| †Notamacropus sp. (giant) | McH | Y | – | – | b | |||||||
| Osphranter rufus | MeH | – | – | |||||||||
| †Protemnodon sp. | McH | Y | Y | d | – | Y | – | – | ||||
| †Sthenurus sp. | McH | – | ||||||||||
| †Procoptodon sp. | McH | Y | d | – | ||||||||
| †Simosthenurus sp. | MeH | – | 2spp | |||||||||
| †Phascolonus gigas | McH | d | – | Y | ||||||||
| †Sedophascolomys sp. cf. S. medius | MeH | Y | – | b | ||||||||
| †Diprotodon optatum | MH | Y | – | Y | – | |||||||
| †Zygomaturus trilobus | MH | – | ?Y | ?b | ||||||||
| †Palorchestes sp. | McH | Y | ||||||||||
| †Thylacoleo sp. | MC | – | d | Y | ||||||||
| Extinct Megafauna | 3 | 7 | 0 | 7 (+2 uncertain) | 13 (+1 uncertain) | |||||||
| Extant Megafauna | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Total Megafauna species | 5 | 10 | 1 | 10 +2 uncertain | 16 +1 uncertain | |||||||
Megafauna listed are from sites within the last 50 ka that have been reliably-dated with an A or A* rating using defined rating criteria11 (see Methods). Those with equivocal B-ratings are discussed in the Methods. Y denotes the youngest reliably-dated megafauna from each region. Megacarnivore (MC) (>100 kg)113; Large carnivore (LC) (21.5–99 kg)113; Megaherbivore (MH) (>1000 kg)114; Macroherbivore (McH) (100–1000 kg)114; Mesoherbivore (MeH) (10–100 kg)114.
TAS Tasmania, SW-WA Southwest Western Australia, spp species, ka thousands of years.
†Extinct.
aOldest site at SWC (SWJ) included for completeness.
bUndated Upper Pleistocene fauna from Quaternary sites (Kemmis and Homevale) close to SWC included for completeness.
cDated occurrence (30–<50 ka) of a large-bodied varanid from Capricorn Caves, FRB115, B-rated116.
dTaxa from Ned’s Gully locality without direct association with dated fossil layer108, B-rated.