Table Of ContentThe Beagle, Records of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, 1992 9(1): 111-114
THE WEIRD WONDERFUL WOMBAT
WARENDJA WAKEFIELD! HOPE & WILKINSON.
NEVILLE S. PLEDGE
South Australian Museum,
North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Aicstralia.
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Warendja wakefieldi Hope and Wilkinson, Phascolarctos. The parietals are almost rectangular
1982 was first described from two dentaries and and smoothly convex except for the lip along the
six isolated teeth from a cave near Nelson. medial edge where the sagittal crest is fomied, and
Victoria. Sub.sequently, a maxilla was described the occipital edge. The brain ca.se is 50 mm wide at
(Flannery and Pledge 1987) from a small cave the anterior squamosal root of tlie zygoma.
near Comaum, South Australia. More material The squamosal is incompletely known since
from the latter site has been recognised by J. the auditory regions are damaged in all speci¬
McNamara, who was able to fit it to the original mens. It is rectangular in its cranial part which is
specimen and reconstruct most of the skull. This evenly convex and not perforated by foramina as
is described briefly below. in modern wombats. The zygomatic wing is not
The skull of Warendja is slightly smaller than as laterally extensive or as robust as in Vombatus
that of an adult common wombat and very lightly and Lasiorhinus Gray but is wombat-like in
built. With the length of more than 155 mm being dorsally flat with a well defined posterola¬
(nasals and occipitals are missing), the rostrum teral rim. Its simple overlapping contact with the
is relatively long (about 50 mm), narrow (25 jugal is unlike the intertonguing contact seen in
mm) and high. The zygomatic arch is low and modern wombats and most other living marsupi¬
slender, the cranium distinctly constricted als but is similar to that seen in Ngapakaldia
anteriorly and domed behind, and there is a weak Stirton and Muramura Pledge. The ventral sur¬
sagittal crest. The highest point of the skull is at face of the squamosal has much gentler relief
the frontals which have a slight post-orbital than in Vombatus, with a broad flat glenoid
prominence. The premaxillae are not complete, facing anteroventrally. The epitympanic sinus is
lacking the palatal area and postcrodorsal con¬ moderately deep, the postglenoid foramen large
tacts, but suggest that the narial opening was and ovate, and the tympanic cavity is large (7mm
cylindrical rather than flattened and laterally transverse diameter) and lined by .squamosal
expanded as in Vombatus Geoffroy. The maxil¬ bone. The auditory region, as preserved, is a
lae are better preserved, both in the reconstructed reduced version of that seen in Vombatus with
skull (SAM P24105) and the skull fragment lower and rounder prominences.
(SAM P31836). Contact with the frontal is un¬ A wombat-like femur (SAM P31854) is tenta¬
clear, but it seems there was not a narrow tively referred to Warendja because of its differ¬
postcrodorsal extension of the maxillary as seen ences from Vombatus femora also preserved in
in Vombatus and Phascolarctos Gray. It is not the deposit. It has a smaller head, a more pointed
likely that the nasal made contact with the lach¬ greater trochanter closer to the axis of the shaft,
rymal. The palatal part of the maxilla is distinc¬ a sharper shorter and lower lesser trochanter, and
tive as indicated by Flannery and Pledge (1987), larger lower third trochanter. At the distal end,
being very broad and relatively fiat - unlike that the anterior face is rounded rather than having a
of living wombats. The palatine bones bound a shallow saddle, the lateral condyle narrower and
large palatal fenestra, extending forward to the the intercondylar channel is parallel-sided rather
middle of M"*. The alisphenoid is not clearly than tapering upwards. The.se and other differ¬
defined on all sides, but its suture, with the ences indicate that Warendja had a slightly
squamosal, skirts the anterior base of the tym¬ different gait to Vombatus.
panic process. The lachrymal appears not to have The skull of Warendja shows a number of
the tubercle that is prominent in Vombatus and features that are considered to be plesiomorphic
111
N.S. Pledge
Fig. 1. Skull of Warendja wakefieldi in dorsal, right lateral and palatal views.
112
Wombat skull
with respect to other wombats, while at the same REFERENCES
time possessing several wombat synapomorphies.
The synapomorphies include rootless incisors, Flannery, T.F. and Pledge, N.S. 1987. Specimens of
premolars and molars, and the sole involvement Warendja wakefieldi (Vombatidae: Marsupialia)
from the Pleistocene of South Australia. In:
of the squamosal in the tympanic process. The
Archer, M. (ed.) Possums and Opossums; stud¬
plesiomorphic features include: broad palate,
ies in evolution. Pp. 365-368. Surrey Beatty &
parallel molar tooth-rows, lightly built zygomatic
Sons, Sydney.
arches, convex rather than flattened dorsal cra¬
Hope. J.H. and Wilkinson, H.E. 1982. Warendja
nial surface, and a simple glenoid region. These wakefieldi, a new genus of wombat (Marsupialia.
features further support the contention of Flannery Vombatidae) from Pleistocene sediments in
and Pledge (1987) that Warendja wakefieldi was McEachern’s Cave, western Victoria. Memoirs
a very primitive wombat with a more gracile of the National Museum Victoria 43: 109-120.
build than the lumbering modern wombats.
Accepted 21 October, 1991
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