Phascolarctidae

The Phascolarctidae is a family of marsupials of the order Diprotodontia, consisting of only one extant species, the koala, and six well-known fossil species, with another six less well known fossil species, and two fossil species of the genus Koobor, whose taxonomy is debatable but are placed in this group. The closest relatives of the Phascolarctidae are the wombats, which comprise the family Vombatidae.

Phascolarctidae

Diliff · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
koalaPBDB
Sits inside
VombatiformesPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Marsupialia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 49 occurrencesOligocene — about 12 of 49 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 13 of 49 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 49 occurrencesPleistocene — about 19 of 49 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.6–3.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 13 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

49 occurrences of Phascolarctidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

49 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

10 formations

Etadunna — 28.76°S, 138.40°EEtadunna — 28.38°S, 138.30°EEtadunna — 29.33°S, 137.50°ENamba — 31.23°S, 140.23°EChinchilla Sand — 26.75°S, 150.63°ESystem B — 19.01°S, 138.67°ELoxton — 34.15°S, 139.91°ENelson Bay — 38.60°S, 141.58°EZone E — 27.71°S, 140.39°EWipajiri — 27.75°S, 140.73°EEttadunna — 28.78°S, 138.42°EAllingham — 19.72°S, 145.60°E

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The named rock units Phascolarctidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 30 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Phascolarctidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Phascolarctidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

430 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 46 sites for Phascolarctidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

27 references

Each of the 49 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 15 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Phascolarctidae

Credit
Diliff
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itVombatiformes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1839