Australia; SA; WA
The koalas that once lived in Western Australia may be a different species to their eastern Australian counterparts, according to Australian researchers. The researchers say that while koalas are regionally extinct in WA, some fossils in the region have been found over the past century. Analysing two complete skull fossils collected in the past 25 years, the team found that while the skulls are similar in size to the eastern koalas we know today, they have clear differences - the skulls are longer and have deeper indents on the face. The researchers conclude that these western koalas could be considered as a distinct species, one that likely went extinct as a result of climate change in the late Pleistocene, which slashed eucalyptus abundance.
From:
New fossil koala (Marsupialia: Phascolarctidae) from the Pleistocene of Western Australia
A new species of fossil koala has been discovered from Western Australia which has gone extinct during the Pleistocene, at a time when climate change reduced the eucalypt forest dramatically, impacting the survival of this new koala in Western Australia.
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