Diprotodon, Owen, 1838

Price, Gilbert J., 2008, Taxonomy and palaeobiology of the largest-ever marsupial, Diprotodon Owen, 1838 (Diprotodontidae, Marsupialia), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 153 (2), pp. 369-397 : 387

LANCEFIELD SWAMP DIPROTODON

There are no consistent dental morphological differences to suggest that more than one morphospecies exists in the Lancefield Swamp Diprotodon assemblage. Additionally, both Diprotodon size classes are undoubtedly represented in the deposit. Thus, the data support an interpretation of sexual dimorphism within Lancefield Swamp Diprotodon .

Horton & Connah (1981) suggested that the mortality profile of the Lancefield Swamp Diprotodon , which is dominated by mature individuals and lacks young individuals, reflects a drought assemblage. However, Van Huet (1999) identified fluvial regimes with variable flow and deposition, and suggested that post-mortem selective sorting was equally plausible in explaining the accumulation of the Diprotodon assemblage. COV values for Lancefield Swamp Diprotodon cheek teeth are similar to those of the extant population of grey kangaroos ( Tables 2–4), suggesting that the accumulation occurred over a discrete temporal period. Thus, although the data provide some support for a rapidly accumulated drought assemblage ( Horton & Connah, 1981), variable abrasion on some Diprotodon dentaries also supports suggestions of secondary reworking of some components of the assemblage ( Van Huet, 1999).