Barinya is a fossil genus from the marsupial family Dasyuridae, which contains the oldest known undoubted dasyurid.[2]

Barinya
Temporal range: Early – middle Miocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Family: Dasyuridae
Subfamily: Barinyainae
Wroe, 1999
Genus: Barinya
Wroe, 1999
Type species
Barinya wangala
Wroe, 1999
Other species

Barinya kutjamarpensis
Binfield et al., 2017[1]

The principal differences between Barinya and more recent dasyurids are in the dentition and skull morphology, with Barinya displaying more primitive features. One described fossil exists and at least one remains to be described. This genus has only been found at Riversleigh in Queensland, where it is quite common in deposits from the Oligo-Miocene.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ Pippa Binfield; Michael Archer; Suzanne J. Hand; Karen H. Black; Troy J. Myers; Anna K. Gillespie & Derrick A. Arena (2017). "A new Miocene carnivorous marsupial, Barinya kutjamarpensis (Dasyuromorphia), from central Australia". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 41 (1): 46–53. doi:10.1080/03115518.2016.1180029. S2CID 133283494.
  2. ^ Long, J., Archer, M., Flannery, T. and Hand, S. 2002. Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 51. ISBN 0-8018-7223-5.
  3. ^ Wroe, S. 1999. "The geologically oldest dasyurid, from the Miocene of Riversleigh, north-west Queensland". Paleontology. 42:501-527. doi:10.1111/1475-4983.00082.