Propleopus

Propleopus
Live reconstruction of Propleopus
Temporal occurrence
Pliocene to Pleistocene
4.3 million years to 55,000 years
Locations
Australia Darling Downs , Queensland Lake Menindee , New South Wales
Systematics
Australidelphia Diprotodontia Kangaroo-like (Macropodoidea) Hypsiprymnodontidae Propleopinae Propleopus
Scientific name
Propleopus
Longman , 1924

Propleopus was agenus of kangaroo thatoccurredin the Pliocene and Pleistocene in Australia andis one of the continent'sextinct megafauna . The closest living relative is the musk rat kangaroo . However, Propleopus was significantly heavier at around 70 kg. Unlike most kangaroos today, it was believed to be omnivorous. This is indicated by the special morphology of the teeth. Whether the animals were also able to kill somewhat larger animals is a matter of dispute.

Two species are known, Propleopus oscillans from the Pleistocene and Propleopus chillagoensis , which also occurred in the Pleistocene, but also in the Pliocene. Propleopus oscillans survived until the end of the Pleistocene and is known from sites on Lake Menindee, whose deposits are dated to around 55,000 years. It was thus probably a victim of the Quaternary extinction wave , which a large part of the Australian megafauna succumbed around 50,000 years ago.

swell

• John A. Long. u. a .: Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2003, ISBN 0-8018-7223-5 .

1. ^ NS Pledge: The Giant Rat-Kangoroo Propleopus oscillans (De Vis), (Potoridae: Marsupialia) in South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 105 (1), 41-47, (1981).
2. ↑ Matthew L. Cupper, Jacqui Duncan: Last glacial megafaunal death assemblage and early human occupation at Lake Menindee, southeastern Australia. Quaternary Research, 66, 332-341, (2006).