Alcoota Scientific Reserve (Miocene of Australia)

Also known as Alcoota Station, Alcoota Fossil Reserv (main pit)

Where: Northern Territory, Australia (22.9° S, 134.9° E: paleocoordinates 28.5° S, 133.1° E)

• coordinate stated in text

When: Waite Formation, Late/Upper Miocene (11.6 - 5.3 Ma)

• Yates and Worthy 2019: It is thought that the Alcoota Local Fauna is late Miocene in age based on stage-of-evolution correlation using diprotodontid marsupials (Stirton et al., 1967; Murray and Megirian, 1992) and that its age lies between 12 and 5 Ma, with an age of about 8 Ma seeming most likely (Megirian et al., 2010).

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: crevasse splay; siltstone

• The bone assemblage is interpreted as a mass death episode that may be linked to waterhole tethering during a severe drought (Murray and Megirian, 1992; Murray and Vickers-Rich, 2004; Yates, 2014, 2015), but this is controversial
• Yates and Worthy 2019: There are two known fossiliferous beds in the Alcoota Scientific Reserve. The older of the two produces the Alcoota Local Fauna and has yielded most of the casuariid fossils from Alcoota. This bed occurs in the lower overbank deposits, within a grayish-yellow silt unit that is interpreted as a crevasse splay.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collection methods: Museus and Art Gallery of Northern Territory

Primary reference: P. Murray and D. Megirian. 2000. Two new genera and three new species of Thylacinidae (Marsupialia) from the Miocene of the Northern Territory, Australia. The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Arl Galleries of the Northern Terrilory 16:145-162 [J. Alroy/A. Garcia Selles]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 135707: authorized by John Alroy, entered by Albert Garcia Selles on 05.11.2012, edited by Joshua Joo, Philip Mannion, Bethany Allen and Grace Varnham

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Aves
 Casuariiformes - Casuariidae
Dromaius arleyekweke n. sp.5 Yates and Worthy 2019 emu
Holotype: NTM P6387;
Reptilia
 Crocodylia -
Baru iylwenpeny n. sp.4 Yates et al. 2023 crocodilian
NTM P5335, 912, 6515 and 6319
 Testudines - Chelidae
Chelodina murrayi n. sp.3 Yates 2013 sideneck turtle
NTM P5264 (holotype), right epiplastron; NTM P5337, peripheral, probably left peripheral 2; NTM P5369, left hyoplastron; NTM P5370, nuchal; NTM 5371, left peripheral 8; NTM 5373, peripheral, probably left peripheral 10; NTM P5374, right xiphiplastron; NTM P5375, left hypoplastron; NTM P5376, mid-series costal; NTM P5377, proximal end of right costal 7; NTM P5378, indeterminate peripheral; NTM P5409, distal end of right costal 2; NTM P9810, left hypoplastron; NTM P9892, right hypoplastron; plus many other poorly informative shell fragments that are unregistered in the NTM palaeontology collection
Mammalia
 Dasyuromorphia - Thylacinidae
Tyarrpecinus rothi n. gen. n. sp.
Tyarrpecinus rothi n. gen. n. sp. Murray and Megirian 2000 thylacine
 Diprotodontia -
Hadronomas puckridgi1 Woodburne 1967 short-faced kangaroo
 Diprotodontia - Diprotodontidae
Kolopsis yperus n. sp.2 Murray et al. 1993 diprotodont marsupial