Leporillus (Rodentia: Muridae) from Madura Cave, W.A. 'Ernest L. Lundelius, Jr. and 2 William D. Turnbull 'Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas, Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory, Texas Memorial Museum, University of Texas, Austin Texas 78712, USA; department of Geology Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Illinois, USA Lundelius, E.L. Jr. and Turnbull, W.D. (1999). Leporillus (Rodentia: Muridae) from Madura Cave, W.A. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 121, 129-146. Two species of the genus Leporillus are represented in the Pleistocene-Holocene sedi-ments of Madura Cave. Leporillus conditor is abundant and ranges from the surface to the deepest level (38,000 BP). L. apicalis is less abundant and appears to be restricted to levels dating from 7,500 to 22,400 BP. Most of the specimens are dissociated because they are derived from owl pellets and thus specific identification is difficult. Many of the dimensions of the teeth of the two species overlap and there are few diagnostic features that separate them. Watts and Aslin gave criteria for the genus based on modern material. We have attempted to evaluate features that would separate the species on the basis of incomplete cranial and dental materials. We describe a few of the better specimens, discuss their morphologic features and his-toric distributions. From this work we are able to document the time span of their presence on the Roe Plain, that part of the Nullarbor Plain south of the Hampton Scarp. The species do not show any significant evolutionary changes during these intervals. Manuscript received 28 July 1999, accepted for publication 15 December 1999. KEYWORDS: Australia, dentition, Holocene, Leporillus apicalis, Leporillus conditor, Muridae, Nullarbor Plain, Pleistocene, Rodentia. INTRODUCTION This report is abstracted from an ongoing study of the rodents from Madura Cave, Part VIII of THE MAMMALIAN FAUNA OF MADURA CAVE. Here we report the presence of both species of the murid rodent genus Leporillus; L. conditor, the greater sticknest rat, or Walpilkara, and L. apicalis, the lesser sticknest rat, or Tchujalpi, Turulpa, Tweealpi and show their chronologic distributions within the cave deposits. There are well over 1,700 specimens of L. conditor ranging from the surface, all units between Unit 1, dated at 7,500 BP, to the bottom unit of the deepest trench, Unit 7, dated at 38,000 BP. L. apicalis is much less abundant; 59 specimens were recovered, none from the surface, most (38) from Unit 1 and 21 from the upper part of Unit 2. (15,600 to 22,400 BP). Madura Cave is located on the Roe Plain, the area on the southern edge of the Nullarbor Plain, six miles south of Madura, 110 miles west of Eucla. A fuller description of the cave is given in Lundelius and Turnbull (1973). The earlier illustrations of the cave map and trench sections are repeated here (Figs. 1^1) to give the reader convenient access to the stratigraphy encountered in each trench. AGE OF DEPOSITS Five radiocarbon dates from Trench 4 span a 30,000 year period between 7,470 ± 129 BP (TX 1146) and 37,880 ± 3,500 BP (TX 1143). Two radiocarbon dates from Trench 3 are 15,600 ± 250 BP (TX 1145) from the top of the second unit (red clay) and Proc. Linn. Soc. n.s.w., 121. 1999
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