Warendja

Warendja is an extinct genus of wombat. It is known from two species, W. encorensis from the Late Miocene Riversleigh site in Queensland, and W. wakefieldi known from the Pleistocene of South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria. The two species are primarily distinguished by features of their enamel. It became extinct as part of the Quaternary extinction event. Warendja wakefieldi is estimated to have weighed about 10 kg, considerably smaller than living wombats. Warendja thought to be relatively basal amongst wombats, being the most primitive member to possess hypselodont (high crowned) cheek teeth. The morphology of the humerus of W. wakefieldi suggests that it engaged in scratch-digging.

Warendja
Temporal range: Late MioceneLate Pleistocene
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Vombatidae
Genus: Warendja
Hope and Wilkinson, 1982
Species
  • Warendja wakefieldi (Hope and Wilkinson, 1982)
  • Warendja encorensis (Brewer et al., 2007)
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