Volia
Volia Temporal range: Late Pleistocene - Early Holocene
| |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Crocodilia |
Genus: | †Volia Molnar, Worthy & Willis, 2002 |
Species: | †V. athollandersoni
|
Binomial name | |
†Volia athollandersoni Molnar, Worthy & Willis, 2002
|
Volia is an extinct genus of mekosuchine crocodylians from Fiji named in 2002.[1] It was around 2–3 metres (7–10 ft) long. Notwithstanding its comparatively small size, it was probably the apex predator of the Pleistocene ecosystems of Fiji.
Fossils of V. athollandersoni, the type and currently only known species, have been found in the Voli-Voli and Wainibuku Caves of Viti Levu Island. The holotype is housed in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.[2] V. athollandersoni and the other large reptiles of Fiji may have been exterminated by human hunting soon after Fiji was colonized by ancient Polynesians.[1]
V. athollandersoni is named after the New Zealand archaeologist Atholl Anderson.[3]
A 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular (DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic (fossil age) data established the inter-relationships within Crocodilia,[4] which was expanded upon in 2021 by Hekkala et al. using paleogenomics by extracting DNA from the extinct Voay.[5]
The below cladogram from the latest studies shows the placement of Volia within Mekosuchinae:[4]
Crocodylia |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Molnar, R.E.; Worthy, T.; Willis, P.M.A. 2002: An extinct Pleistocene endemic mekosuchine crocodylian from Fiji. Journal of vertebrate paleontology, 22: 612–628. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2002)022[0612:AEPEMC]2.0.CO;2
- ^ "Volia athollandersoni; holotype". Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
- ^ Leach, Foss, ed. (2008). "Atholl John Anderson: No ordinary archaeologist". Islands of Inquiry: Colonisation, seafaring and the archaeology of maritime landscapes. Canberra: ANU Press. p. 7. ISBN 9781921313905 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Michael S. Y. Lee; Adam M. Yates (27 June 2018). "Tip-dating and homoplasy: reconciling the shallow molecular divergences of modern gharials with their long fossil". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285 (1881). doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.1071.
- ^ Hekkala, E.; Gatesy, J.; Narechania, A.; Meredith, R.; Russello, M.; Aardema, M. L.; Jensen, E.; Montanari, S.; Brochu, C.; Norell, M.; Amato, G. (2021-04-27). "Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus". Communications Biology. 4 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02017-0. ISSN 2399-3642.
- Mekosuchinae
- Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera
- Holocene extinctions
- Pleistocene crocodylomorphs
- Pleistocene first appearances
- Prehistoric vertebrates of Oceania
- Reptiles of Fiji