Virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia).

Thylacinidae is an extinct family of Australian and New Guinean marsupial carnivores, comprizing 12 known species, the oldest of which are late Oligocene (∼24 Ma) in age. Except for the recently extinct thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), most are known from fragmentary craniodental material only,...

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Auteurs principaux:	Marie R G Attard, William C H Parr, Laura A B Wilson, Michael Archer, Suzanne J Hand, Tracey L Rogers, Stephen Wroe
Format:	article
Langue:	EN
Publié:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
Sujets:	Medicine R Science Q
Accès en ligne:	https://doaj.org/article/ceb669ff2f7a4a5d9afd8c26110087ba
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ceb669ff2f7a4a5d9afd8c26110087ba2021-11-18T08:24:14ZVirtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia).1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0093088https://doaj.org/article/ceb669ff2f7a4a5d9afd8c26110087ba2014-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24718109/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Thylacinidae is an extinct family of Australian and New Guinean marsupial carnivores, comprizing 12 known species, the oldest of which are late Oligocene (∼24 Ma) in age. Except for the recently extinct thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), most are known from fragmentary craniodental material only, limiting the scope of biomechanical and ecological studies. However, a particularly well-preserved skull of the fossil species Nimbacinus dicksoni, has been recovered from middle Miocene (∼16-11.6 Ma) deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland. Here, we ask whether N. dicksoni was more similar to its recently extinct relative or to several large living marsupials in a key aspect of feeding ecology, i.e., was N. dicksoni a relatively small or large prey specialist. To address this question we have digitally reconstructed its skull and applied three-dimensional Finite Element Analysis to compare its mechanical performance with that of three extant marsupial carnivores and T. cynocephalus. Under loadings adjusted for differences in size that simulated forces generated by both jaw closing musculature and struggling prey, we found that stress distributions and magnitudes in the skull of N. dicksoni were more similar to those of the living spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) than to its recently extinct relative. Considering the Finite Element Analysis results and dental morphology, we predict that N. dicksoni likely occupied a broadly similar ecological niche to that of D. maculatus, and was likely capable of hunting vertebrate prey that may have exceeded its own body mass.Marie R G AttardWilliam C H ParrLaura A B WilsonMichael ArcherSuzanne J HandTracey L RogersStephen WroePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 4, p e93088 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Marie R G Attard William C H Parr Laura A B Wilson Michael Archer Suzanne J Hand Tracey L Rogers Stephen Wroe Virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia).
description	Thylacinidae is an extinct family of Australian and New Guinean marsupial carnivores, comprizing 12 known species, the oldest of which are late Oligocene (∼24 Ma) in age. Except for the recently extinct thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), most are known from fragmentary craniodental material only, limiting the scope of biomechanical and ecological studies. However, a particularly well-preserved skull of the fossil species Nimbacinus dicksoni, has been recovered from middle Miocene (∼16-11.6 Ma) deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland. Here, we ask whether N. dicksoni was more similar to its recently extinct relative or to several large living marsupials in a key aspect of feeding ecology, i.e., was N. dicksoni a relatively small or large prey specialist. To address this question we have digitally reconstructed its skull and applied three-dimensional Finite Element Analysis to compare its mechanical performance with that of three extant marsupial carnivores and T. cynocephalus. Under loadings adjusted for differences in size that simulated forces generated by both jaw closing musculature and struggling prey, we found that stress distributions and magnitudes in the skull of N. dicksoni were more similar to those of the living spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) than to its recently extinct relative. Considering the Finite Element Analysis results and dental morphology, we predict that N. dicksoni likely occupied a broadly similar ecological niche to that of D. maculatus, and was likely capable of hunting vertebrate prey that may have exceeded its own body mass.
format	article
author	Marie R G Attard William C H Parr Laura A B Wilson Michael Archer Suzanne J Hand Tracey L Rogers Stephen Wroe
author_facet	Marie R G Attard William C H Parr Laura A B Wilson Michael Archer Suzanne J Hand Tracey L Rogers Stephen Wroe
author_sort	Marie R G Attard
title	Virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia).
title_short	Virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia).
title_full	Virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia).
title_fullStr	Virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia).
title_full_unstemmed	Virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia).
title_sort	virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid cenozoic thylacinid, nimbacinus dicksoni (thylacinidae, marsupialia).
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/ceb669ff2f7a4a5d9afd8c26110087ba
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Virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia).

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