Protemnodon
| Protemnodon | ||||||||||||
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Protemnodon anak (live reconstruction) |
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| Protemnodon | ||||||||||||
| Owen , 1874 | ||||||||||||
Protemnodon is a genus of large extinct kangaroos . The animals lived in Australia until the late Pleistocene .
The genus Protemnodon was common in Australia and New Guinea until the end of the Pleistocene . Protemnodon anak is the best known species of fossil kangaroo today. In contrast to the typical short-snouted kangaroos , which were contemporaries of Protemnodon until the late Pleistocene , this large kangaroo had a relatively long snout and a rather flat skull. Protemnodon anak reached a height of 2 m and a weight of 100 to 150 kg. The species was also found in Tasmania, where it seems to have survived a little longer than on mainland Australia. Protemnodon only disappeared on the island around 40,000 years ago as the last giant kangaroo in the Australian region. Notably, Tasmania was not settled by indigenous people until a few thousand years after the Australian continent. A connection between this Pleistocene mass extinction and the occurrence of humans seems obvious. Alternatively, mainly climatic causes are discussed.
In the past, in addition to extinct species, the smaller species of the genus Macropus were also included in the genus Protemnodon . The genus Wallabia is considered to be closely related.
swell
- ↑ J. Long, M. Archer, T. Flannery, SJ Hand, (2002): Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. Kensington: University of New South Wales. (pg 161-162)
- ↑ Jared Diamond : Palaeontology: The last giant kangaroo. Nature 454, 835-836 (2008)
- ^ GD Sanson: The Evolution and Significance of Mastication in the Macropodidae. Australian Mammal Society (1978).
Web links
- Protemnodon skeleton ( Memento from July 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
