Wakaleo vanderleuri
| Wakaleo vanderleuri Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | †Thylacoleonidae |
| Genus: | †Wakaleo |
| Species: | †W. vanderleuri
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Wakaleo vanderleuri | |
Wakaleo vanderleuri is a species of marsupial lion of the genus Wakaleo, that lived in Australia during the Miocene (about 16 to 10 million years ago).
Description
Being a marsupial, it is not closely related to true cats. This animal is hypothesized to have been an omnivore, eating significant amounts of meat, perhaps more like a bear in diet and habit than like an actual lion. It lacked large canine-like fangs, producing some controversy regarding just how much it actually preyed on living animals. The meat-eating hypothesis is based largely upon the morphology of its molar teeth. The species is believed to have been able to hunt by leaping from trees onto its prey.[2][3]
The type species fossils were originally found in the Bullock Creek (Northern Territory) area. It has been found in limestone deposits in Riversleigh.[3]
The first fossil, a right dentary fragment, was found in 1967 by a group of field workers at Bullock Creek in the Northern Territory. A left dentary of the species in a good state of preservation was described in 1896.[4] Since then more fossils have been recovered, including a well-preserved near-complete cranium with the mandible intact.[3]
References
- ^ Clemens, W.A.; Plane, M. (1974). "Mid-Tertiary Thylacoleonidae (Marsupialia, Mammalia)". Journal of Paleontology. 48 (4): 653–660. ISSN 0022-3360.
- ^ Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 101. ISBN 0-06-055804-0.
- ^ a b c "Wakaleo vanderleueri Vanderleuer's Little Lion". Riversleigh faunal encyclopedia. wakaleo.net. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
- ^ Megirian, D. (28 January 1986). "The dentary of Wakaleo vanderleueri (Thylacoleonidae: Marsupialia)". The Beagle : Occasional Papers of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences. 3: 71–79.
External links
- Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
- Australian Museum
- Murray, Peter; Megirian, Dirk (1990). "Further observations on the morphology of Wakaleo vanderleueri (Marsupialia:Thylacoleonidae) from the mid-Miocene Camfield beds, Northern Territory". The Beagle : Occasional Papers of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences. 7 (1): 91–102.
_white_background.jpg){kind=small} | This article about a diprotodont is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This Australia-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a prehistoric marsupial is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |