The stratigraphical occurrence and palaeoecology of some Australian Tertiary marsupials

A. Wynyardia, bassiana is a Lower Tertiary possum from Northern Tasmania whose provenance has been checked by the fluorine test and other investigations.It was apparently swept down a river and entombed as a carcase in marine calcareous mud because the bones were largely in their correct relative positions.B. In the Hamilton district of Victoria, part of the ramus of a kangaroo in a Lower Pliocene marine bed suggests some kind of grassland environment, and indicates an older origin for the kangaroos than some have previously accepted.In a swampland environment with a conifer-eucalypt forest rich in ferns, and with ponds rich in diatoms and sponges, there lived a cuscus represented by a fossil molar.Volcanic ash fell on this landscape which was subsequently obliterated by lava flows.The climate was pluvial and warmer than the present.There is evidence to suggest that the Grampian Mountains were uplifted at this time.C. The recognition of marine and non-marine members of the Sandringham Sands formation in the Port Phillip area, the dating of the latter member by pollen analysis, and the consideration of the varying facies involved, assist in understanding the Upper Miocene marine beds at Beaumaris whence came a number of marsupial bones.Fluorine tests have checked their provenance.D.-E.The Tertiary marsupial fauna of Australia as at present known is listed, and a number of localities of possible Tertiary age which have yielded marsupial fossils is discussed.CONTENTS.A. Occurrence of Wynyardia at Wynyard, Tasmania.B. Occurrence of Tertiary marsupials at Hamilton, Victoria.C. Occurrence of Tertiary marsupials at Beaumaris, Victoria.D. Australia's Tertiary marsupial fauna.E. Some possible Tertiary marsupial sites in Australia.Introduction.In the year 1900, Professor Baldwin Spencer published his monograph on Wynyardia bassiana and thus the nature of Aus- tralia 's first Tertiary marsupial became known.With the help of fluorine tests, a number of others has recently been recognized, and this paper is written to elucidate their stratigraphical occur- rence.Most of these marsupials occur in shallow water marine deposits and the marine fossils thus date them with some precision.