Riversleigh fauna


Riversleigh fauna is the collective term for any species of animal identified in fossil sites located in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area.

Faunal zones

The presence of the Riversleigh in the Oligo-Miocene has been exceptionally well preserved throughout a number of time periods. These has been classified by four "faunal zones", and may be summarised as,
More recent fossil specimens has also been coded to the period of deposition,
The following are incomplete lists of mammals, birds, fish, and invertebrate species and genera included in the Riversleigh fauna, according to the compilation of taxa by researchers at the University of New South Wales and Queensland. A survey of species-level taxa described in the Riversleigh Fauna in the decades of research preceding 2006, resulted in a total greater than 290 species.
The fauna of Riversleigh includes placental mammals, especially bats, and the various families of marsupials. Due to the novelty of some taxa discovered in the area, some species have been placed in tentative arrangements or unknown lineages placed as sometimes undescribed higher taxa.
The Mammalia discovered at the site includes the Yingabalanaridae family, whose classification within the order is currently uncertain.

Bats