Thylacinus potens
| Thylacinus potens Temporal range: Miocene
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| Species: | †T. potens
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| Thylacinus potens (Woodburne, 1967)
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Thylacinus potens ("powerful pouch") was the largest species of the family Thylacinidae, originally known from a single poorly preserved fossil discovered by Michael O. Woodburne in 1967 in a Late Miocene locality near Alice Springs, Northern Territory. It preceded the modern thylacine by 4–6 million years,[1] and was 5% bigger,[2] was more robust and had a shorter, broader skull. Its size is estimated to be similar to that of a grey wolf; the head and body together were around 5 feet long, and its teeth were less adapted for shearing compared to those of the modern thylacine.[1]
More specimens were described in 2014.[3]
References
- ^ a b Some Thylacine Relics: Tertiary (page 1)
- ^ The Lost Kingdoms of Australia by Stephen Wroe
- ^ Yates, A. M. (2014). "New craniodental remains of Thylacinus potens (Dasyuromorphia: Thylacinidae), a carnivorous marsupial from the late Miocene Alcoota Local Fauna of central Australia". PeerJ. 2: e547. doi:10.7717/peerj.547.
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