ArticlePloS one2014
Virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia).
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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18 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Patterns of ontogenetic evolution across extant marsupials reflect different allometric pathways to ecomorphological diversity.Nature communications · 2023Article
- The diet of early birds based on modern and fossil evidence and a new framework for its reconstruction.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2021Review
- Functional ecological convergence between the thylacine and small prey-focused canids.BMC ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Did the thylacine violate the costs of carnivory? Body mass and sexual dimorphism of an iconic Australian marsupial.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
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- Resurrecting Darwin's Niata - anatomical, biomechanical, genetic, and morphometric studies of morphological novelty in cattle.Scientific reports · 2018Article
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- Feeding biomechanics of Late Triassic metoposaurids (Amphibia: Temnospondyli): a 3D finite element analysis approach.Journal of anatomy · 2017Article
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- The Biomechanics of Zygomatic Arch Shape.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2016Article
- Reconstructing the past: methods and techniques for the digital restoration of fossils.Royal Society open science · 2016Article
- Moa diet fits the bill: virtual reconstruction incorporating mummified remains and prediction of biomechanical performance in avian giants.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Article
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7 authors.
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Abstract
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.
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