An arid-adapted middle Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from south-central Australia - Nature

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We thank P. Ackroyd, K. Boland, R. Gibbons, G. MacLucas, J. MacLucas and E. Taylor for bringing their discoveries to our attention, and for cave mapping and field assistance; C. Bryce, G. Deacon, L. Hatcher, D. Megirian and M. Norton for field assistance; G. Kendrick and A. Baynes for identifying gastropod and rodent fossils, respectively; and P. Latz, J. Magee, D. Megirian, G. Miller and P. Murray for discussions. This study was supported by two grants from the Rio Tinto WA Future Fund to the Western Australian Museum. Isotopic analysis was funded by a US National Science Foundation grant.

Author Contributions G.J.P. was responsible for site descriptions, faunal analysis, data synthesis and writing the paper, J.A.L. fieldwork coordination, L.K.A. stable isotope analysis, J.C.H. U-series dating, B.P. magnetic polarity assessment, M.N.H. lizard identifications, W.E.B. bird identifications, R.G.R., M.L.C. and L.J.A. optical dating, P.D.D. site interpretation, and N.M.W. small marsupial identifications.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Western Australian Museum, Perth, Western Australia, 6000, Australia

   Gavin J. Prideaux, John A. Long & Natalie M. Warburton

2. Museum Victoria, PO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001, Australia

   John A. Long

3. Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84112, USA

   Linda K. Ayliffe

4. Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 0200, Australia

   Linda K. Ayliffe & Brad Pillans

5. School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia

   John C. Hellstrom & Matthew L. Cupper

6. Terrestrial Zoology, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, 2010, Australia

   Walter E. Boles

7. Herpetology Section, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia

   Mark N. Hutchinson

8. GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, 2522, Australia

   Richard G. Roberts & Lee J. Arnold

9. Speleological Research Group Western Australia, PO Box 1611, East Victoria Park, Western Australia, 6981, Australia

   Paul D. Devine

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gavin J. Prideaux.

Competing interests

Reprints and permissions information is available at www.nature.com/reprints. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Table 1-8, Supplementary Figures 1-6 with legends, Supplementary notes and additional references. The file consists of geochronological results, observations on depositional environments and processes, and palaeoecological data too detailed to include in the main text, but which directly underpin it. (PDF 683 kb)

Cite this article

Prideaux, G., Long, J., Ayliffe, L. et al. An arid-adapted middle Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from south-central Australia. Nature 445, 422–425 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05471

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• Received: 25 August 2006

• Accepted: 21 November 2006

• Issue Date: 25 January 2007

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05471