Overview
- A partial skull in Museums Victoria, catalogued as NMV P256921, has been identified as the extinct Owen’s giant echidna Megalibgwilia owenii.
- The bone came from Foul Air Cave in Buchan, collected in 1907 by museum officer Frank Spry, then linked to that trip after Tim Ziegler re-sighted the fragment in 2021 and traced its records.
- Researchers used 3D scans and detailed comparisons with modern and fossil echidnas in collections across Australia to confirm the match.
- The find provides the first confirmed Victorian record for the species and fills a roughly 1,000-kilometer gap in its known southern Australian distribution.
- Megalibgwilia owenii was about 1 meter long and 15 kilograms with strong limbs and a straight beak, hinting at a different diet and digging style, and the authors call for fresh checks of other echidna fossils and new field surveys.