Museum fossil reveals that extinct giant echidnas once roamed Australia

Paleontologists have used an Ice Age fossil found 120 years ago in an underground cave to reveal that extinct giant echidnas roamed southeastern Australia during the Pleistocene Epoch, filling a major knowledge gap in the continent's prehistoric fauna. New research by Museums Victoria Research Institute scientists Tim Ziegler and Jeremy Lockett appearing in Alcheringa has identified the extinct Owen's giant echidna, Megalibgwilia owenii, among fossils collected at Foul Air Cave, Buchan, Victoria. The fragmentary skull—thought to have been among the first megafauna fossils retrieved from the renowned Buchan Caves—fills a gap of over 1,000 kilometers between previous finds.