Museum fossil found 120 years ago unearths new discovery
Scientists had been scratching their heads for almost 30 years as to why no fossils of Australia’s extinct giant echidna were being found in Victoria – until two researchers looked closer to home
READING LEVEL: GREEN
A fossil hiding in plain sight has helped solve a mystery that has been puzzling palaeontologists* for decades.
Ever since the 1990s, fossil remains of Australia’s extinct Owen’s giant echidna, the Megalibgwilia owenii, have been found scattered across the continent, from Western Australia into Tasmania and southern New South Wales.
A longstanding mystery to scientists was the lack of fossils found on the ground in Victoria, given the state’s suitable habitat* and plentiful discoveries of other fossilised species.
Palaeontologists have now identified an Ice age fossil found 120 years ago in an underground cave in Victoria as that of a giant echidna, showing the species did roam southeastern Australia during the Pleistocene Epoch*.
New research by Museums Victoria Research Institute scientists Tim Ziegler and Jeremy Lockett, published in the Australasian* palaeontology journal Alcheringa, identified the extinct Owen’s giant echidna among fossils collected at Foul Air Cave in Buchan, Victoria.
The fragmentary* skull — thought to have been among the first megafauna* fossils collected from the Buchan Caves — closed a gap of over 1000km between previous finds.
The giant echidna grew up to a metre long and weighed in at 15kg — as much as a four-year-old toddler. Its name combines the Ancient Greek “mega”, meaning great or mighty, with the Wemba Wemba* word “libgwil”, meaning echidna.
Lead author of the paper and vertebrate palaeontology collection manager at Museums Victoria Research Institute, Mr Ziegler first sighted the fossil in 2021 and used historical archives to show it had been collected in a 1907 expedition to the cave by museum officer and naturalist Mr Frank Spry.
“Museum collections preserve the link between science, heritage and people,” Mr Ziegler said. “Over a century ago, Spry, along with scientists and locals, investigated Buchan’s caves with little more than ropes and kerosene lamps, and they inspired us to carry on their work.”
After recognising the unusual skull, Mr Ziegler and Mr Lockett, a Deakin University Honours student, measured and 3D-scanned modern and fossil echidnas in museum collections across Australia. The fossil’s distinctive straight-beaked snout — used to dig the hard soils of Ice Age Australia and crush large insect prey — confirmed the specimen’s identity. Mr Ziegler also revisited Foul Air Cave with Parks Victoria and the Victorian Speleological* Association to assess the newly significant site.
“Previous research by Museums Victoria has shown the Buchan Caves preserve an exceptional record of Australia’s unique megafauna, including the short-faced kangaroo Simosthenurus occidentalis and the giant marsupial Palorchestes azael,” said Mr Ziegler. “The next amazing discovery could come from inside the museum, from continued fieldwork, or the keen eyes of a citizen scientist. I can’t wait to find out.”
The research has shown just how important historical museum collections are as well as the value museums hold when it comes to unlocking new discoveries about Australia’s prehistoric past. Megalibgwilia owenii can also be seen at Melbourne Museum, featured in Gandel Gondwana* Garden in the Resilient* Bushland section.
POLL
GLOSSARY
- habitat: the natural environment in which an animal or plant usually live
- palaeontologists: scientists who study fossils of plants, animals and insects that lived millions of years ago to find out about the history of Earth
- Pleistocene Epoch: the Ice age, spanning from 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, characterised by freezing temperatures when glaciers covered large areas of the Earth
- Australasian: relating to Australia, New Zealand and sometimes New Guinea as well as the surrounding islands in the region
- fragmentary: only existing in small parts and not complete
- megafauna: the large animals of a region or era
- Wemba Wemba: Indigenous Australians whose traditional lands extend from northwest Victoria to southwest NSW
- speleological: the scientific study and exploration of caves
- Gondwana: the supercontinent that comprised South America, Africa, Arabia, India, Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand from about 550 million to 180 million years ago. Gondwana started to break apart into the separate continents as we know them today during the Jurassic Period about 165 million to 180 million years ago
- resilient: resilient bushland are native ecosystems that are able to sustain themselves and can regenerate after disturbances such as bushfires or invasions of weed
EXTRA READING
Australia’s oldest Ice age cave
How cold was it in the coldest part of the Ice age?
Time capsule of the day the dinosaurs died
QUICK QUIZ
1. What is the scientific name of the Owen’s giant echidna?
2. How long ago was the Buchan Cave fossil found?
3. What is the name of the person who collected the fossil?
4. How did palaeontologists identify the fossil as being the remains of the Owen’s giant echidna?
5. What size did the Owen’s giant echidna generally grow to?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Specimen label
Write a specimen label that could be displayed with the fossil discussed in this news story. These labels usually include important information like the name of the specimen, where it was found, how old it is, and why it’s important.
Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Science; History
2. Extension
Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast Megalibgwilia owenii with the current day short-beaked echidna. Try to include a minimum of three similarities and three differences.
Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Science
VCOP ACTIVITY
Down-level it
When you up-level a sentence, you do things to it to improve it: make it more interesting, or more complex.
But sometimes, when we read something it can be too complex and we don’t understand it very well. You ask someone to explain it to you, they do (in a simpler way) and you think, well why didn’t they just say that?
Go through the article and find a sentence or two that is complex, or hard to read.
Ask an adult what it means, or try and look some of the words up in the glossary.
Once you know what it means, see if you can rewrite it in a simpler way- down-level it.
Make sure you don’t change the meaning of the sentence in any way though.