Bluff Downs Murid (not yet named)
Lived: 4 million years ago (early Pliocene)
Size: Length (head to tail): 20cm
Description: Rodents (rats and mice) are one of the most successful groups of mammals in Australia. They have moved into nearly every environment since arriving in Australia during Pliocene times. Rodents now make up nearly one-quarter of Australia's mammal species.
The Bluff Downs Murid is a rodent that scurried around the woodlands and open country looking for seeds to eat. It probably looked similar to today's rock rats or tree rats, and its nearest living relatives are Australian rodents.
Fossils: Only one incisor tooth and one leg bone (femur) of the Bluff Downs Murid have been found so far. They were discovered in 1976 at Bluff Downs fossil deposit in north-eastern Queensland.
Did you know?: The Bluff Downs Murid is one of the oldest rodents known from Australia.
