The smallest New Guinea zygomaturines derived dwarfs or relict plesiomorphs

Three Pleistocene species of zygomaturine dipiotodontids are presently known from New Guinea.Two of these distinctive marsupials are much smaller than any of the late Tertiary zygomaturines that occurred in Australia, but are more similar in size to certain mid to late Miocene genera.Stirton etal.(1967).Flannery and Plane (1986) and Flannery (1988) have suggested that the late Tertiary New Guinea assemblages represent relict species with closest affinities to the mid to late Miocene faunas of Australia.A broad compitfison of the morphology of late Pleistocene New Guinea zygomaturines indicates that they are derived species of the Australian Plio-Pleistocene Zygomaturus clade.As the relict fauna hypothesis appears to stem primarily from a "stage of evolution" interpretation of the New Guinea diprotodontids, this conclusion has significant implications for the palaeozoogeographic interpretation of New Guinea

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