Big Sink, Wellington Caves (Pliocene of Australia)
Where: New South Wales, Australia (32.6° S, 148.9° E: paleocoordinates 35.3° S, 148.5° E)
When: Early/Lower Pliocene (5.3 - 3.6 Ma)
Environment/lithology: terrestrial; calcareous breccia
• At present, the quarry is approximately 10 m in diameter at the surface and 8 to 9 m deep, with walls formed almost entirely of sediment and large limestone boulders. At its base a passage extends westward for approximately 10 m. The walls of this passage are partly formed from smooth Devonian limestone bedrock, ornamented with some speleothems, clearly indicating that a natural solution cave was once present, which subsequently filled with breccia.
Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils
Primary reference: L. Dawson, J. Muirhead, and S. Wroe. 1999. The Big Sink local fauna; a lower Pliocene mammalian fauna from the Wellington Caves complex, Wellington, New South Wales. Records of the Western Australian Museum 57:265-290 [M. Uhen/N. Visalden]more details
Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis
PaleoDB collection 181610: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Nicholas Visalden on 20.09.2016, edited by Mark Uhen
Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)
Taxonomic list
Show authors, comments, and common names
| unclassified | |
"Dasycerus" worboysi n. sp.
"Dasycerus" worboysi n. sp. | |
| Mammalia | |
|
Perameles bowensis Muirhead et al. 1997 long-nosed bandicoot | |
|
Silvicultor karae Travouillon et al. 2017 marsupial | |
|
Antechinus sp. Macleay 1841 antechinus | |
|
Pseudocheirus cf. stirtoni Turnbull and Lundelius 1970 ring-tailed possum | |
|
Thylacoleo crassidentatus Bartholomai 1962 diprotodont marsupial | |
|
Cercartetus sp. Gloger 1841 pygmy possum | |
|
Macropodinae indet. Gray 1821 kangaroo
Protemnodon bandharr n. sp. Dawson et al. 1999 kangaroo
Protemnodon cf. devisi Bartolomai 1973 kangaroo
Kurrabi cf. merriwaensis Flannery and Archer 1984 kangaroo | |
|
Macroderma koppa Dawson and Augee 1988 false vampire | |
|
Murinae indet. mouse | |