The skeleton of Congruus kitcheneri , a semiarboreal kangaroo from the Pleistocene of southern Australia

The macropodine kangaroo, Wallabia kitcheneri , was first described in 1989 from a Pleistocene deposit within Mammoth Cave, southwestern Australia, on the basis of a few partial dentaries and maxilla fragments. Here, we recognize W. kitcheneri within the Pleistocene assemblages of the Thylacoleo Caves, south-central Australia, where it is represented by several cranial specimens and two near-complete skeletons, a probable male and female. We reallocate this species to the hitherto monotypic genus Congruus . Congruus kitcheneri differs from all other macropodid species by having a highly unusual pocket within the wall of the nasal cavity. It is distinguished from C. congruus by having a longer, narrower rostrum, a taller occiput and a deeper jugal. Congruus is closest to Protemnodon in overall cranial morphology but is smaller and less robust. In most postcranial attributes, Congruus also resembles Protemnodon , including general limb robustness and the atypical ratio of 14 thoracic to five lumbar vertebrae. It is distinguished by the high mobility of its glenohumeral joints, the development of muscle attachment sites for strong adduction and mobility of the forelimb, and large, robust manual and pedal digits with strongly recurved distal phalanges. These adaptations resemble those of tree-kangaroos more than ground-dwelling macropodines. We interpret this to imply that C. kitcheneri was semiarboreal, with a propensity to climb and move slowly through trees. This is the first evidence for the secondary adoption of a climbing habit within crown macropodines.

First record of soft-winged flower beetles (Coleoptera, Malachiidae) in a late Pleistocene deposit from West Siberia with a review of known Quaternary data

Soft-winged flower beetles (Coleoptera, Malachiidae), Apalochrus femoralis pallipes Motschulsky, 1860 and Ebaeus Erichson, 1840 species, are recorded for the first time from Quaternary fossils in the deposit Ustyanka-1 near Ustyanka river, the right tributary of Alei river in Altaiskii Krai, West Siberia, Russia. The strata containing malachiid fragments belong to the warm phase of the late glacial succession. It is shown that soft-winged flower beetles are typical of Holocene deposits and practically unknown from cold phases of the Pleistocene, except in the case of Protapalochrus Evers, 1987 which has been recorded from the Pleistocene. Illustrations of the external appearance of both male and female of the beetles, and sub-fossil remains of Apalochrus femoralis pallipes Motschulsky, 1860 and three species from the Ebaeus rufipes-group distributed in the region are given, together with details of their position within the Ustyanka-1 deposit. Data on the Malachiidae in Quaternary deposits of the Northern Hemisphere are briefly reviewed.