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An illustrated
depiction of a Malleodectes from Riversleigh chowing down on snail.
Illustration by Peter
Schouten
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New evidence points to
a 15 million-year-old marsupial munched on snails in Australia.
“Malleodectes
mirabilis was a bizarre mammal, as strange in its own way as a koala or kangaroon,”
University of New South Wales professor Mike Archer, the lead author of a studypublished in the journal Scientific Reports, says in press release.
New fossil evidence
linked the animal as a cousin of contemporary animals such as Tasmanian devil,
but roamed the earth around 15 million years ago. Tracings of the animal was
found in the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site near Queensland, where
scientists have found puzzling remains before.
The main traces of the
animal came in dental form from isolated samples of teeth and dentitions found
over several years. The part of Riversleigh where they were found has been
excavated by Professor Archer and other researchers for nearly 40 years.
The details of the
canine, premolar and molar teeth of this specimen have enabled its relationship
to other Australian marsupials, declaring the escargot-loving creature its own
family, Malleodectes mirabilis: The
Marvelous Hammer Biter, as they would need to be, in order to chomp through
snail shells.
The big clue that led
to scientists declaring that animal its own family occurred when a portion of a
skull from a young member of the marsupial group was found in the cave deposit.
The skull had to be
extracted from a heavy limestone casing using acid and once freed, its teeth
were analyzed and determined as an animal belonging to a completely different
family than cousin animals living around the time period. Scientists were able
to use adult teeth that were just starting to emerge for the young animal
before its demise.
According to Professor
Suzanne Hand, the juvenile malleodectid could have been clinging to the back of
its mother while she was hunting for snails in the rocks around the cave’s
entrance, and may have fallen in and then been able to climb back out. The
tragic fate was common in the Riversleigh area.
The animal also had an
insatiable appetite for escargot. Its huge extremely powerful, hammer-like
premolar would have been able to crack and crush the strongest snail shells in
the forest.
Scientists believe
that the young marsupial was likely one of the last one of the family, as a
severe climate change event reshaped Australia from rainforests to grasslands
and caused heavy stress to existing animals.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
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