| Joculusium | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
| Genus: | † Joculusium |
| Species: | †J. muizoni |
| Binomial name | |
| †Joculusium muizoni | |
Joculusium muizoni is a fossil species discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area. Little is known about the animal.
The species describes a fossilised specimen of an unknown family, but allied to the order Dasyuromorphia with reasonable confidence by the author Stephen Wroe. [1] [2] The holotype and only sole known specimen is a lower jaw bone. The epithet of the species muizoni honours the palaeontologist Christian de Muizon and its new genus Joculusium was named in reference to the type locality. [2]
Joculusium muizoni is a fossil species of dasyuromorph, an order of marsupials represented in the modern Australian fauna by the quolls (Dasyuridae), Tasmanian devil and recently extinct thylacine (Thylacinidae). [2] When discovered, the specimen exhibited the least derived characteristics of the known species of the order that was found in dasyurid and thylacinid families. [1] The only specimen is a jaw bone of a carnivore that probably ate smaller vertebrate species or insects. [2]
The type locality is middle Miocene (Faunal Zone C, circa 14 myr) at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, which at that time was a wetter environment dominated by rainforest. [2]
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