Abstract
New fossil evidence indicates that a mammal-like reptile inhabited Australia in the early part of the Triassic period (∼220 Myr ago). There are no previous reports of mammal-like reptiles from this continent, and the earliest known Australian mammals have been dated as no older than Oligocene (∼23 Myr)1,2. The evidence is an isolated quadrate bone, recently discovered in Lower Triassic rocks of the Arcadia Formation, south-east Queensland. This bone has morphological peculiarities matched only in dicynodonts (mammal-like reptiles of the infraorder Dicynodontia, order Therapsida) and was probably derived from an animal similar or identical to the common African dicynodont Kannemeyeria.
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Thulborn, R. A mammal-like reptile from Australia. Nature 303, 330–331 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/303330a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/303330a0
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