Overview
- Museums Victoria researchers reported in Alcheringa that a tiny skull fragment in their collection belongs to the extinct Owen's giant echidna, Megalibgwilia owenii.
- The finding establishes the species' first confirmed presence in Victoria, closing a more than 1,000-kilometre break between earlier sites in South Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania.
- Collection manager Tim Ziegler first noticed the fossil in 2021 while sorting unsorted trays in the palaeontology store at Melbourne’s museum.
- Archival records tie the bone to a 1907 expedition to Foul Air Cave near Buchan by museum naturalist Frank Spry, a pitfall cave whose slick entrance can trap animals and help preserve their remains.
- Comparative measurements and 3D scans, including the fossil’s straight beak shape, confirmed the ID, pointing scientists to recheck old collections and revisit Buchan for more Ice Age clues.