Perameles

Abstract: Synopsis Systematic collecting from fluviatile Pleistocene fossil deposits of the Darling Downs, southeastern Queensland, Australia, has led to an increase in the region's fossil record of bandicoots. Isoodon obesulus, Perameles bougainville and P. nasuta are reported for the first time in the Darling Downs fossil record. Accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dates based on charcoal from bandicoot fossil‐bearing stratigraphic horizons indicates deposition 45–40 ka. Additional material attributed to the recently described Darling Downs P. sobbei is also described. P. sobbei retains plesiomorphic characters in the upper dentition including reduction of the metaconule on M3 and the lack of posterior cingula on M2 and M3. Phylogenetic interpretation of dental characters suggests that P. sobbei has closer affinities to the Pliocene P. bowensis than to any modern species. The presence of extant species such as P. bougainville and I. obesulus as fossils provides evidence that scrublands and closed woodlands with den...

Abstract: Perameles sobbei sp. nov. is described from Pleistocene fluviatile sediments from King Creek on the eastern Darling Downs. Perameles sobbei falls within the size range of modern Perameles species, but its molar morphology indicates a closer affinity with the early Pliocene species, P. bowensis. Both species retain the plesiomorphic states of possessing straight cristid obliquas with closely approximated trigonid cuspids, and the synapomorphic state of the reduction of the hypoconulid on M. However, the great size difference and slight molar morphology differences between the two are considered sufficient to warrant specific separation. Perameles sobbei sp. nov. is the third fossil Perameles species described and the first from Pleistocene deposits.