Wildlife at the Watering Hole - October 2025 - Dr Timothy Churchill

Dasyuromorphia and related groups from the Oligo-Miocene deposits of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area

Dr Timothy Churchill

The Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northwestern Queensland preserves Australia’s richest record of dasyuromorphian marsupials, yet their full diversity is still being uncovered. My research reveals a plethora of new taxa including Australia’s oldest thylacinids, new malleodectid species that expand understanding of this highly specialized lineage, and the recognition of a previously unknown marsupial order that survived for over 37 million years before its extinction. Together, these findings reshape our view of dasyuromorphian evolution, ecology, and their place in Australia’s deep mammalian past.

Meet Tim: 

Dr Timothy Churchill is a palaeontologist who recently completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales under the supervision of Professors Mike Archer and Sue Hand, where his research focused on the evolution of Australia’s marsupial predators. He currently works in archaeology and heritage as a Fauna Specialist in the Pilbara and is a Council member of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, where he hosts the pub-talk series Wildlife at the Watering Hole.