“There are several species of large, long-nosed, worm-eating echidna that are still around today, many different wallaby and possum species that we don’t get in Australia, and more still in the fossil record. “The New Guinean fauna is fascinating, but very few Australians have much of an idea of what’s actually there,” says Flinders palaeontology PhD candidate Isaac Kerr. Isaac Kerr with Australian fossil and extant kangaroo jaw bones This discovery breathes some new life into the exploration of New Guinea’s faunal history. Much of the animal life of New Guinea is little-known outside of the island, despite its colour and distinctiveness. The species is estimated to have grown to between 40 and 50 kilograms – just slightly less than today’s commonly found eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). Here, it evolved to eat the tough leaves from trees and shrubs, with a thick jaw bone and strong chewing muscles. The squat, muscular Nombe lived in a diverse montane rainforest with thick undergrowth and a closed canopy.

Nombe is already known for multiple extinct species of kangaroo and giant four-legged marsupials called diprotodontids.įlinders University researchers have renamed the animal Nombe nombe, after the location of its discovery – and plan to return to PNG for further excavations and research next year. They come from the Nombe Rockshelter, an archaeological and palaeontological site in Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea. The kangaroo, first described in 1983 by Professor Tim Flannery, is known from fossils around 20,000-50,000 years old. Their findings show that rather than being closely related to Australian kangaroos, it most likely belongs to a unique genus of more primitive kangaroo found only in PNG. Illustration courtesy Peter ShoutenĪ “strange” primitive kangaroo has been classified as a new species, unique to Papua New Guinea, in the peer-reviewed journal, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia.įossil and jaw bones found in the in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea in the 1970s, have been re-analyzed by Australian palaeontologists from Flinders University. Artist’s impression of Nombe Rockshelter prehistoric animals showing the large kangaroo (renamed Nombe Nombe), on left.

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