Quaternary Kangaroos (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) from Nombe Rock Shelter, Papua New Guinea, with Comments on the Nature of Megafaunal Extinction in the New Guinea Highlands T. FLANNERY, M-J. mountain and K. APLIN (Communicated by M. ARCHER) Flannery, T., Mountain, M-J., & Aplin, K. Quaternary kangaroos (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) from Nombe rock shelter, Papua New Guinea, with comments on the nature of megafaunal extinction in the New Guinea highlands. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. W. 107 (2), (1982) 1983: 77-99. Seven species of macropodids occur in the late Pleistocene-Holocene sediments of Nombe rock shelter, Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea. The four small species, Dorcopsulus vanheurni, Thylogale brunii, Dendrolagus goodjellowi and Dendrolagus dorianus are still extant. The three larger species, Dendrolagus noibano n. sp., Protemnodon tumbuna n. sp. and Protemnodon nombe n. sp. are extinct forms known only from Nombe. The two Protemnodon species are closest in morphology to Pliocene Australian and New Guinea representatives of the genus and differ markedly from Pleistocene Australian species. The faunal and associated cultural sequence at Nombe provides evidence of long temporal overlap between man and megafauna in montane New Guinea, but at present does not elucidate the causes of large mammal extinction. T. Flannery and K. Aplin, School of Zoology, University of New South Wales, P. 0. Box 1, Kensington, Australia, 2033, and M-J. Mountain, Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, P.O. Box 4, Canberra, Australia, 2600; manuscript received 17 November 1982, acceptedfor publication in revised form 20 April 1983. Introduction The mountainous island of New Guinea contains a diverse and abundant mammalian fauna. However, the modern fauna is depauperate, especially in large animals, when compared with that present during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Surprisingly, the Pleistocene fossil record of New Guinea has until now remained almost completely unknown. A single upper molar fragment of a large macropodid from Kafiavana (Plane, 1972) and unallocated diprotodontid, phalangerid and rodent remains from Pureni Swamp (Williams et ai, 1972; Hope and Hope, 1976) are the only Pleistocene mammal remains (apart from those from Nombe) thus far recorded. The Pliocene fauna of New Guinea is slightly better known, the rich Awe local fauna having been first noted by Anderson (1937) and described by Plane (1967a, b). The Awe local fauna includes three species of diprotodontids, {Nototherium watutense, Kolopsis rotundus and Kolopsoides cultridens), three macropodids, (Protemnodon otibandus, Protem-nodon buloloensis and a large species o{ Dorcopsis), a dasyurid {Myoictis sp.. Archer, 1982), a rodent, cassowary and crocodile. The location of these sites is shown in Fig. 1 . Nombe rock shelter is located in Simbu Province, at 6° OS'S, 145° lO'E, Map reference: Goroka Sheet 7985 (Ed. 1) BP957208, topographic survey, Papua New Guinea: series T601, 1:100,000. The rock shelter is developed in the mid-Eocene to lower Oligocene Chimbu Limestone, and is situated at an altitude of about 1720 metres on the northeast side of the Mt Elimbari ridge. Four main stratigraphic units Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 107 (2), (1982) 1983
Quaternary kangaroos (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) from Nombe rock shelter, Papua New Guinea, with comments on the nature of megafaunal extinction in the New Guinea highlands
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