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Jun 03 2025
4Scientists have discovered new collagen-based protein markers that could revolutionize how extinct megafauna are identified from fossil fragments, especially in regions where DNA does not survive. The breakthrough offers critical tools for understanding why large animals like giant wombats and kangaroos disappeared from Australia thousands of years ago.
Between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, a wave of extinctions wiped out many of the planet’s largest land animals, including Australia's unique megafauna. Unraveling the causes behind these losses—whether due to climate shifts, human activity, or other pressures—requires accurate identification of fossil remains. Yet, many of these remains are too fragmentary for species-level identification, and DNA often degrades beyond use, particularly in tropical or humid climates.
Now, a team of researchers has successfully isolated collagen peptide markers for three key extinct Australian species: Zygomaturus trilobus, a wombat-like marsupial the size of a hippo; Protemnodon mamkurra, a massive kangaroo; and Palorchestes azael, a clawed herbivore with a unique skull and strong forelimbs. Their findings, published in Frontiers in Mammal Science, mark a significant step forward in paleoproteomics—the study of ancient proteins.
“Understanding the range and timing of extinction of these species, and their interactions with early humans, remains a contested area,” explained Professor Katerina Douka of the University of Vienna, the study’s senior author. The limited fossil record in Australia has made it difficult to test theories about why these animals vanished.
Lead author Dr. Carli Peters of the University of Algarve emphasized the importance of identifying collagen markers for extinct species: “Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry, or ZooMS, can vastly increase the number of fossils we can identify—if the necessary peptide markers exist.”
Unlike DNA, collagen—a structural protein—survives longer and is more resilient in harsh environments. Analyzing its peptides, or short amino acid chains, allows researchers to differentiate between genera and, occasionally, species. However, until now, most reference markers were limited to Eurasian species, limiting their usefulness for fossils found in Australia.
The team focused on species that provide critical insights into extinction dynamics. Z. trilobus and P. azael came from families that completely vanished in the Late Quaternary, while P. mamkurra may have coexisted with early humans in Tasmania over 43,000 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating by co-author Dr. Richard Gillespie.
The collagen extracted from the fossil samples was well-preserved, enabling the researchers to rule out contamination and identify clear markers for all three species. These markers successfully distinguished Protemnodon from both extinct and modern kangaroo genera and separated Zygomaturus and Palorchestes from other large marsupials—though not from each other, due to the slow rate at which collagen evolves.
Despite this limitation, the markers will be invaluable for identifying remains from regions like tropical Sahul—an ancient landmass encompassing modern Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea—where DNA preservation is especially poor.
“This is just the beginning,” said Peters. “Many more species, including the colossal Diprotodon and the carnivorous Thylacoleo, still lack defined markers. Our work sets the stage for expanding identification efforts across Australia’s fossil record.”
By developing these new protein tools, scientists are one step closer to reconstructing the lost ecosystems of prehistoric Australia—and understanding how, and why, they vanished.
Source:https://phys.org/news/2025-06-scientists-markers-species-fragments-fossilized.html
This is non-financial/medical advice and made using AI so could be wrong.
