It is commonly accepted that dasyurids (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) radiated in the late Miocene or ... more It is commonly accepted that dasyurids (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) radiated in the late Miocene or early Pliocene in response to a drying trend in Australia's climate as evidenced from the high diversity of dasyurids from modern arid environments compared with Miocene rainforest assemblages. However, mid-Pleistocene dasyurid assemblages from cave deposits at Mt Etna, Queensland are more diverse than any previously known from rainforest habitats. New taxa will be described elsewhere, but include three new genera as well as new species of Dasyurus, Antechinus and Phascogale. Comparison of dasyurids from Mt Etna sites that are interpreted as rainforest palaeoenvironments with fossil and extant assemblages indicate that they are at least as diverse as those from modern arid environments. Thus Neogene diversification of dasyurids occurred in both arid and rainforest habitats, but only the former survived continuing aridification. Hence, aridification cannot be invoked for the diversification of all dasyurid lineages.
Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology, 2014
XX.XX.2014. Traditional and computed tomographic (CT) techniques link modern and Cenozoic fruits ... more XX.XX.2014. Traditional and computed tomographic (CT) techniques link modern and Cenozoic fruits of Pleiogynium (Anacardiaceae) from Australia. Alcheringa 39, xx-xx. ISSN 0311-5518.
New skeletal elements are reported of the holotype specimen Australovenator wintonensis, from the... more New skeletal elements are reported of the holotype specimen Australovenator wintonensis, from the type locality, near Winton, central western Queensland. New elements include left and right humeri, right radius, right radiale, right distal carpal 1, near complete right metacarpal I, left manual phalanx II-1, left manual phalanx II-2, near complete left manual phalanx II-3 and a left manual phalanx III-3. These new elements combined with those previously described are compared against other neovenatorids. Citation: White MA, Cook AG, Hocknull SA, Sloan T, Sinapius GHK, et al. (2012) New Forearm Elements Discovered of Holotype Specimen Australovenator wintonensis from Winton, Queensland, Australia. PLoS ONE 7(6): e39364.
Price, Gilbert, Webb, Gregory, Zhao, Jian-xin, Feng, Yue-xing and Hocknull, Scott (2009). Pre-Hum... more Price, Gilbert, Webb, Gregory, Zhao, Jian-xin, Feng, Yue-xing and Hocknull, Scott (2009). Pre-Human climatic forcing for late pleistocene megafaunal extinction: Evidence from the Darling Downs, Eastern Australia. In: , Abstracts of papers From the Sixty-Ninth Annual Meeting Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and the Fifty-Seventh Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy (SVPCA). Sixty-Ninth Annual Meeting Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and the Fifty-Seventh Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy ...
Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science (Fort Hays Studies Special Issue 3 - Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting), 2008
Most specimens of ‘dolichosaurs,’ Cretaceous aquatic platynotan lizards related to the much large... more Most specimens of ‘dolichosaurs,’ Cretaceous aquatic platynotan lizards related to the much larger mosasaurs and also to snakes, come from shallow marine carbonate platforms of the western Tethys, but specimens have also been reported from the interior seaway of North America (e.g., Shimada and Ystesund, 2007) and from Japan (Evans et al., 2006). Here we report the first dolichosaur specimen (a single vertebra) from any non-marine Gondwanan deposits, from a fluvial deposit of the Winton Formation in central Queensland. It is also the oldest (or perhaps second oldest) known Australian squamate: the only older confirmed lepidosaur record in Australia is Aptian, a poorly preserved but moderately large humerus ‘probably from a terrestrial lizard,’ from the Strzelecki Group in Victoria (Molnar, 1991, 2004). The Winton deposits are dated to latest Albian (ca. 100 Ma) on the basis of pollen zones, somewhat older than most other dolichosaurs (which are mainly Cenomanian–Santonian: for review, see Shimada et al., 2007) but younger than the Japanese fossil Kaganaias Evans, Manabe, Noro, Isaji and Yamaguchi, 2006 (Valanginian/Hauterivian: Evans et al., 2006). Another early record of a likely dolichosaur (Barremian of Spain) comes from a lacustrine deposit and was initially identified as a snake (Rage and Richter, 1994; Rage and Werner, 1999). Despite being the oldest known examples of the dolichosaur grade (basal Ophidiomorpha: sensu Palci and Caldwell, 2007), the occurrence of these three forms in freshwater continental deposits is likely to reflect independent incursions from marine habitats in a common ancestor because their localities were almost maximally separated by land routes.
Over 190 partial and complete dinosaur prints which include six trackways are preserved in the ce... more Over 190 partial and complete dinosaur prints which include six trackways are preserved in the ceilings of a disused clay mine near Mount Morgan central eastern Queensland, Australia. These represent the best record of Early Jurassic dinosaur footprints thus far discovered within Australia. Anomoepus dominates with other morphologies present including, Grallator, cf. Eubrontes, and Skartopus and several indeterminate prints. Only one possible manus print was observed. All preserved tracks are short walking tracks. Lower Jurassic, dinosaur trackways, ornithopod, theropod, dinosaur footprints, Razorback Beds, Mount Morgan.
Background: Australia's dinosaurian fossil record is exceptionally poor compared to that of other... more Background: Australia's dinosaurian fossil record is exceptionally poor compared to that of other similar-sized continents. Most taxa are known from fragmentary isolated remains with uncertain taxonomic and phylogenetic placement. A better understanding of the Australian dinosaurian record is crucial to understanding the global palaeobiogeography of dinosaurian groups, including groups previously considered to have had Gondwanan origins, such as the titanosaurs and carcharodontosaurids.
It is commonly accepted that dasyurids (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) radiated in the late Miocene or ... more It is commonly accepted that dasyurids (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) radiated in the late Miocene or early Pliocene in response to a drying trend in Australia's climate as evidenced from the high diversity of dasyurids from modern arid environments compared with Miocene rainforest assemblages. However, mid-Pleistocene dasyurid assemblages from cave deposits at Mt Etna, Queensland are more diverse than any previously known from rainforest habitats. New taxa will be described elsewhere, but include three new genera as well as new species of Dasyurus, Antechinus and Phascogale. Comparison of dasyurids from Mt Etna sites that are interpreted as rainforest palaeoenvironments with fossil and extant assemblages indicate that they are at least as diverse as those from modern arid environments. Thus Neogene diversification of dasyurids occurred in both arid and rainforest habitats, but only the former survived continuing aridification. Hence, aridification cannot be invoked for the diversification of all dasyurid lineages.
Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology, 2014
XX.XX.2014. Traditional and computed tomographic (CT) techniques link modern and Cenozoic fruits ... more XX.XX.2014. Traditional and computed tomographic (CT) techniques link modern and Cenozoic fruits of Pleiogynium (Anacardiaceae) from Australia. Alcheringa 39, xx-xx. ISSN 0311-5518.
New skeletal elements are reported of the holotype specimen Australovenator wintonensis, from the... more New skeletal elements are reported of the holotype specimen Australovenator wintonensis, from the type locality, near Winton, central western Queensland. New elements include left and right humeri, right radius, right radiale, right distal carpal 1, near complete right metacarpal I, left manual phalanx II-1, left manual phalanx II-2, near complete left manual phalanx II-3 and a left manual phalanx III-3. These new elements combined with those previously described are compared against other neovenatorids. Citation: White MA, Cook AG, Hocknull SA, Sloan T, Sinapius GHK, et al. (2012) New Forearm Elements Discovered of Holotype Specimen Australovenator wintonensis from Winton, Queensland, Australia. PLoS ONE 7(6): e39364.
Price, Gilbert, Webb, Gregory, Zhao, Jian-xin, Feng, Yue-xing and Hocknull, Scott (2009). Pre-Hum... more Price, Gilbert, Webb, Gregory, Zhao, Jian-xin, Feng, Yue-xing and Hocknull, Scott (2009). Pre-Human climatic forcing for late pleistocene megafaunal extinction: Evidence from the Darling Downs, Eastern Australia. In: , Abstracts of papers From the Sixty-Ninth Annual Meeting Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and the Fifty-Seventh Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy (SVPCA). Sixty-Ninth Annual Meeting Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and the Fifty-Seventh Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy ...
Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science (Fort Hays Studies Special Issue 3 - Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting), 2008
Most specimens of ‘dolichosaurs,’ Cretaceous aquatic platynotan lizards related to the much large... more Most specimens of ‘dolichosaurs,’ Cretaceous aquatic platynotan lizards related to the much larger mosasaurs and also to snakes, come from shallow marine carbonate platforms of the western Tethys, but specimens have also been reported from the interior seaway of North America (e.g., Shimada and Ystesund, 2007) and from Japan (Evans et al., 2006). Here we report the first dolichosaur specimen (a single vertebra) from any non-marine Gondwanan deposits, from a fluvial deposit of the Winton Formation in central Queensland. It is also the oldest (or perhaps second oldest) known Australian squamate: the only older confirmed lepidosaur record in Australia is Aptian, a poorly preserved but moderately large humerus ‘probably from a terrestrial lizard,’ from the Strzelecki Group in Victoria (Molnar, 1991, 2004). The Winton deposits are dated to latest Albian (ca. 100 Ma) on the basis of pollen zones, somewhat older than most other dolichosaurs (which are mainly Cenomanian–Santonian: for review, see Shimada et al., 2007) but younger than the Japanese fossil Kaganaias Evans, Manabe, Noro, Isaji and Yamaguchi, 2006 (Valanginian/Hauterivian: Evans et al., 2006). Another early record of a likely dolichosaur (Barremian of Spain) comes from a lacustrine deposit and was initially identified as a snake (Rage and Richter, 1994; Rage and Werner, 1999). Despite being the oldest known examples of the dolichosaur grade (basal Ophidiomorpha: sensu Palci and Caldwell, 2007), the occurrence of these three forms in freshwater continental deposits is likely to reflect independent incursions from marine habitats in a common ancestor because their localities were almost maximally separated by land routes.
Over 190 partial and complete dinosaur prints which include six trackways are preserved in the ce... more Over 190 partial and complete dinosaur prints which include six trackways are preserved in the ceilings of a disused clay mine near Mount Morgan central eastern Queensland, Australia. These represent the best record of Early Jurassic dinosaur footprints thus far discovered within Australia. Anomoepus dominates with other morphologies present including, Grallator, cf. Eubrontes, and Skartopus and several indeterminate prints. Only one possible manus print was observed. All preserved tracks are short walking tracks. Lower Jurassic, dinosaur trackways, ornithopod, theropod, dinosaur footprints, Razorback Beds, Mount Morgan.
Background: Australia's dinosaurian fossil record is exceptionally poor compared to that of other... more Background: Australia's dinosaurian fossil record is exceptionally poor compared to that of other similar-sized continents. Most taxa are known from fragmentary isolated remains with uncertain taxonomic and phylogenetic placement. A better understanding of the Australian dinosaurian record is crucial to understanding the global palaeobiogeography of dinosaurian groups, including groups previously considered to have had Gondwanan origins, such as the titanosaurs and carcharodontosaurids.
New discoveries in the Eulo springs super-group, southwest Queensland, has revealed one of Austra... more New discoveries in the Eulo springs super-group, southwest Queensland, has revealed one of Australia’s richest megafauna-bearing fossil sites both in terms of preservation and abundance of remains. Recent surveys and systematic excavations have identified a vast number of sites containing numerous individuals of the world’s largest marsupial, Diprotodon, along with other megafaunal species. Based on the fauna so far collected the sites are most likely Late Pleistocene in age. Abundant small vertebrate and invertebrate fossils have also been recovered. Preliminary findings include aquatic taxa of gastropods, fish and turtles along with terrestrial taxa such as frogs, squamates, birds, rodents and marsupials. The microfauna occur in very high concentrations, comparable to specimen densities in cave fill. This is particularly unusual for open arid sites as they are significantly affected by deflation and erosion. The deposits are composed of very fine alluvial and lacustrine clays, silts, sands and some gravels formed during periods of megaspring development. The presence of crocodilians and turtles indicates sufficiently sized water bodies capable of sustaining populations of large aquatic vertebrates. Spring development appears to be associated with the Boondoona Fault and spring activity relies on a combination of local rainfall and aquifer discharge rates. Determining the pre-European development, isolation and extinction of spring habitats in relation to fault activity and recharge rates associated with intense Quaternary climatic changes is a key aim of this project. The long term isolation of Great Artesian Basin springs in the arid zone has led to the evolution of many endemic, now threatened, species. Our research will integrate the micro- and megafaunal records to determine how species became isolated and how fauna interacted with the spring systems to arrive at present day distributions, diversity and abundance.
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Papers by Scott Hocknull