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5d ago

Collagen Markers Reveal Three Extinct Australian Megafauna Species

Mass spectrometry analysis of ancient collagen provides a novel way to track Australia’s extinct giants in environments where genetic material is lost.

Image
50,000-Year-Old Collagen Could Lead Us To Hippo-Sized Wombats In The Fossil Record
Palorchestes azael. Image credit: Nellie Pease / CABAH / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Overview

  • Researchers established collagen peptide markers for Zygomaturus trilobus, Palorchestes azael and Protemnodon mamkurra to expand fossil identification.
  • Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) can now distinguish megafauna remains in tropical and sub-tropical sites where DNA preservation is poor.
  • Bones of Protemnodon mamkurra dated to over 43,000 years ago suggest this giant kangaroo may have coexisted with early Tasmanian humans.
  • The new markers reliably separate genera but currently cannot distinguish species within the same genus due to slow evolutionary changes in collagen.
  • By increasing the number of identifiable megafauna fossils, this approach could shed light on extinction drivers and interactions with early modern humans.