Nature Communications (May 2020)

Extinction of eastern Sahul megafauna coincides with sustained environmental deterioration

  • Scott A. Hocknull,
  • Richard Lewis,
  • Lee J. Arnold,
  • Tim Pietsch,
  • Renaud Joannes-Boyau,
  • Gilbert J. Price,
  • Patrick Moss,
  • Rachel Wood,
  • Anthony Dosseto,
  • Julien Louys,
  • Jon Olley,
  • Rochelle A. Lawrence

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15785-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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The causes of the Upper Pleistocene megafauna extinction in Australia and New Guinea are debated, but fossil data are lacking for much of this region. Here, Hocknull and colleagues report a new, diverse megafauna assemblage from north-eastern Australia that persisted until ~40,000 years ago.