High-quality fossil dates support a synchronous, Late Holocene extinction of devils and thylacines in mainland Australia

dc.contributor.authorWhite, L.
dc.contributor.authorSaltré, F.
dc.contributor.authorBradshaw, C.
dc.contributor.authorAustin, J.
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractThe last large marsupial carnivores-the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilis harrisii) and thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus)-went extinct on mainland Australia during the mid-Holocene. Based on the youngest fossil dates (approx. 3500 years before present, BP), these extinctions are often considered synchronous and driven by a common cause. However, many published devil dates have recently been rejected as unreliable, shifting the youngest mainland fossil age to 25 500 years BP and challenging the synchronous-extinction hypothesis. Here we provide 24 and 20 new ages for devils and thylacines, respectively, and collate existing, reliable radiocarbon dates by quality-filtering available records. We use this new dataset to estimate an extinction time for both species by applying the Gaussian-resampled, inverse-weighted McInerney (GRIWM) method. Our new data and analysis definitively support the synchronous-extinction hypothesis, estimating that the mainland devil and thylacine extinctions occurred between 3179 and 3227 years BP.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityLauren C. White, Frederik Saltre, Corey J. A. Bradshaw and Jeremy J. Austin
dc.identifier.citationBiology Letters, 2018; 14(1):1-4
dc.identifier.doi10.1098/rsbl.2017.0642
dc.identifier.issn1744-9561
dc.identifier.issn1744-957X
dc.identifier.orcidBradshaw, C. [0000-0002-5328-7741]
dc.identifier.orcidAustin, J. [0000-0003-4244-2942]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/111414
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherRoyal Society
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130104055
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130103842
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT110100306
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT100100108
dc.rights© 2018 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0642
dc.subjectAMS dating
dc.subjectHolocene
dc.subjectdevil
dc.subjectextinction
dc.subjectthylacine
dc.titleHigh-quality fossil dates support a synchronous, Late Holocene extinction of devils and thylacines in mainland Australia
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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