Tingamarra
Encyclopedia
Tingamarra is an extinct genus
of mammals, from the early Eocene of Australia, about 55 million years ago. It was a ground-dwelling mammal that ate insects and fruit. It was quite small: just 20 cm from head to tail. Tingamarra probably belongs to the condylarth
order
: this is a primitive order of mammals which are ancestral to modern ungulate
s.
in south-eastern Queensland
. An ankle bone and an ear bone found at Murgon may also belong to this animal.
Most Australian mammals are marsupials instead. Scientists have long thought that when placental and marsupial mammals compete for resources, the placentals win. Before Tingamarra was found, it was thought that marsupials had done well in Australia because for many millions of years they had no placentals to compete with. The discovery of Tingamarra surprised scientists, because it meant that placental mammals were indeed in Australia many millions of years ago, and the marsupials had flourished anyway.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of mammals, from the early Eocene of Australia, about 55 million years ago. It was a ground-dwelling mammal that ate insects and fruit. It was quite small: just 20 cm from head to tail. Tingamarra probably belongs to the condylarth
Condylarth
Condylarthra is an order of extinct placental mammals known primarily from the Paleocene and Eocene epochs. Condylarths are among the most characteristic Paleocene mammals and they illustrate the evolutionary level of the Paleocene mammal fauna....
order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
: this is a primitive order of mammals which are ancestral to modern ungulate
Ungulate
Ungulates are several groups of mammals, most of which use the tips of their toes, usually hoofed, to sustain their whole body weight while moving. They make up several orders of mammals, of which six to eight survive...
s.
Discovery
Tingamarra was discovered in 1987, when a single tooth was found at the Murgon fossil siteMurgon fossil site
The Murgon fossil site is a paleontological site of early Eocene age in south-eastern Queensland, Australia. It lies near the town of Murgon, some 270 km north-west of Brisbane...
in south-eastern Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. An ankle bone and an ear bone found at Murgon may also belong to this animal.
Scientific significance
Tingamarra appears to be the only land-based placental mammal to have arrived in Australia before about 8 million years ago. The only other native placental mammals in Australia are rodents and Dingos (which arrived here more recently), and bats (which presumably flew in).Most Australian mammals are marsupials instead. Scientists have long thought that when placental and marsupial mammals compete for resources, the placentals win. Before Tingamarra was found, it was thought that marsupials had done well in Australia because for many millions of years they had no placentals to compete with. The discovery of Tingamarra surprised scientists, because it meant that placental mammals were indeed in Australia many millions of years ago, and the marsupials had flourished anyway.