Ilariidae

The Ilariidae is a family of fossil mammals. Most ilariids are found in the middle Tertiary faunal assemblages of South Australia. Ilaria illumidens is the best-preserved representative of this extinct clade of vombatiforms.

Ilariidae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Infraorder: Vombatomorphia
Family: †Ilariidae
Tedford & Woodburne, 1987
Genera

†Ilaria
†Kuterintja
†Nimbadon

The species is found in the Namba Formation of Late Oligocene age, at Lake Pinpa, South Australia. The material consists of a partial cranium and mandibular fragments with most of the dentition, together with parts of the postcranial skeleton.[1] The other species in this family are known from a few jaw fragments and intact molars attached; they are categorised in a separate family because their teeth structure is unique among Diprotodontia, in having a complicated folding pattern. Ilariids are thought to be the largest marsupials of their time in the Lake Eyre and Tarkarooloo basin.

References
  • Patricia Vickers-Rich and Thomas Hewett Rich 1993 Wildlife of Gondwana Reed Books, Chatswood, New South Wales ISBN 0-7301-0315-3 Reed.
  1. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~jansa003/NSF/Fossils2.pdf accessed 2010-05-21


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