Thylacine - Is there a fossil Thylacine?

Is there a fossil Thylacine?

Australian Museum Research Library

Fossils have been reported from Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and north-western Australia.

Recent work at the Riversleigh World Heritage fossil site in north-west Queensland has unearthed a spectacular array of thylacines dating from about 30 million years ago to almost 12 million years ago. At least seven different species are present, ranging from small specialised cat-sized individuals to fox-sized predators.

The most spectacular find has been an almost complete skeleton of a thylacine from the AL90 site at Riversleigh. First glimpsed on the 1996 field season when Phil Creaser, currently at the Australian Museum, cracked a limestone boulder to reveal part of the skull after 17 million years in a limestone tomb. It has taken many months of intricate preparation before the skeleton has been reassembled.

Preparator Anna Gillespie, at the University of NSW, rates it as one of the most astounding and magnificent specimens she has ever prepared and one of the most wondrous fossil treasures from anywhere in the world.

The fossil record of the Thylacine is a powerful reminder of how important it is to learn from the past the messages in the rocks for the future. In Riversleigh times there were several species. By 8 million years ago only one kind, the Powerful Thylacine, is known.

The modern Thylacine made its appearance about 4 million years ago.

Knowledge of the fossil record of this magnificent marsupial, may have helped us take the necessary steps to preserve the Thylacine for the future

A mummified carcase of Thylacine was found in a cave on the Nullabor Plain. It lived about 4 to 5,000 years ago, just before the Dingo was introduced into Australia.