| Kuterintja Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | † Ilariidae |
| Genus: | † Kuterintja Pledge, 1987 |
| Species: | †K. ngama |
| Binomial name | |
| †Kuterintja ngama Pledge, 1987 | |
Kuterintja is an extinct genus of marsupial of the family Ilariidae. Only one species has been described, Kuterintja ngama, from Late Oligocene of Australia.
The order Peramelemorphia includes the bandicoots and bilbies. All members of the order are endemic to Australia-New Guinea and most have the characteristic bandicoot shape: a plump, arch-backed body with a long, delicately tapering snout, very large upright ears, relatively long, thin legs, and a thin tail. Their size varies from about 140 grams up to 4 kilograms, but most species are about one kilogram.
Thylacinus is a genus of extinct carnivorous marsupials in the family Thylacinidae. The only recent member was the thylacine, commonly also known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf. The last known Tasmanian tiger was in the Beaumaris Zoo in Tasmania, eventually dying in 1936. The earliest known member of the genus, Thylacinus macknessi appeared during the Early Miocene, around 16 million years ago, and was smaller than the modern thylacine, with a body mass of about 6.7–9.0 kilograms (14.8–19.8 lb). Thylacinus represented the only extant genus of the family after the beginning of the Pliocene around 5 million years ago. Over time members of the genus saw an increase in body mass and a greater adaption to hypercarnivory in their dental morphology.
Mekosuchinae is an extinct clade of crocodilians from the Cenozoic of Australasia. They represented the dominant group of crocodilians in the region during most of the Cenozoic, first appearing in the fossil record in the Eocene of Australia, and surviving until the arrival of humans: the Late Pleistocene on the Australian continent and during the Holocene in the Pacific islands of Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu.
Mekosuchus is a genus of extinct Australasian mekosuchine crocodilian. Species of Mekosuchus were generally small-sized, terrestrial animals with short, blunt-snouted heads and strong limbs. Four species are currently recognized, M. inexpectatus, M. whitehunterensis, M. sanderi and M. kalpokasi, all known primarily from fragmentary remains.
Barawertornis tedfordi was a dromornithid (mihirung), a large flightless fowl hailing from Late Oligocene to Early Miocene. The only species in the genus Barawertornis, its fossil remains are found in strata of the Riversleigh deposits located at two sites in Northwestern Queensland, Australia.
Pengana, also referred to as flexiraptor, is an extinct bird of prey that lived during the late Oligocene in what is now Queensland, Australia. It is known only from a fragment of the tibiotarsus that was collected from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area. The tibiotarsus is unusual in that it allowed for the leg to be swivelled backwards and sideways, making it well adapted to reaching into holes and crevices and extracting prey. The genus is only known from a single species, Pengana robertbolesi.
Badjcinus is an extinct thylacinid marsupial. It is the earliest and most primitive known thylacinid, living 23 to 28 million years ago in the late Oligocene.
Wakaleo is an extinct genus of medium-sized thylacoleonids that lived in Australia in the Late Oligocene and Miocene Epochs.
Ekaltadeta is an extinct genus of marsupials related to the modern musky rat-kangaroos. Ekaltadeta was present in what is today the Riversleigh formations in Northern Queensland from the Late Oligocene to the Miocene, and the genus includes three species. The genus is hypothesized to have been either exclusively carnivorous, or omnivorous with a fondness for meat, based on the chewing teeth found in fossils. This conclusion is based mainly on the size and shape of a large buzz-saw-shaped cheek-tooth, the adult third premolar, which is common to all Ekaltadeta.
The genus Nimbacinus contains two species of carnivorous, quadrupedal marsupials in Australia both of which are extinct:
Nimiokoala greystanesi is an extinct marsupial, closely related to the extant koala, that inhabited northwestern Queensland in the early-middle Miocene. It is the only species assigned to the genus Nimiokoala. Along with species of sister genus Litokoala, it is the smallest representative of family Phascolarctidae. Based on cladistic analysis, Nimiokoala is one of the more basal genera of Phascolarctide. It died out due to climate change rendering the environment more arid. It probably had a more generalized diet than that of the modern species, but its exact food preferences are unknown.
Emuarius is an extinct genus of casuariiform flightless bird from Australia that lived during the early Miocene and late Oligocene. It is one of two known genera of emu. There are two known species in the genus, Emuarius gidju and Emuarius guljaruba. The birds in this genus are known as emuwaries. This name comes from a combination of emu and cassowary. This is due to its cassowary-like skull and femur and emu-like lower leg and foot. Because of these similarities it is phylogenetically placed between cassowaries and emus.
Litokoala is an extinct genus of marsupials, and along with Nimiokoala, is closely related to the modern koala. The three genera may have diverged at an earlier date, although the drying of the continent and the expansion of Eucalyptus forests towards the late Miocene may have delayed the evolution of cranial features unique to the modern genera. This indicates that either fossil genus could be an ancestor of the modern genus, or the modern genus has a common ancestor to both. More material needs collection to improve their taxonomical relationships.
Ngamalacinus is an extinct genus of thylacinid marsupial that lived during the late Oligocene and early Miocene of Australia. Fossils have been found in Riversleigh.
Ganguroo is a genus of fossil macropods found at Riversleigh in Australia, material dating from the Middle to Late Miocene Epoch. The type species of the genus is Ganguroo bilamina, published in 1997. Two recently described species, Ganguroo bites and Ganguroo robustiter, have also been placed in this genus.
The Macropodidae are an extant family of marsupial with the distinction of the ability to move bipedally on the hind legs, sometimes by jumping, as well as quadrupedally. They are herbivores, but some fossil genera like Ekaltadeta are hypothesised to have been carnivores. The taxonomic affiliations within the family and with other groups of marsupials is still in flux.
Ngapakaldia is an extinct genus of diprotodontid marsupials, related to the modern koala and wombat. Around the size of a sheep, it was a ground-dwelling herbivore that lived around the vegetated shores of lakes in Central Australia during the Late Oligocene.
Bulungu is an extinct genus of bandicoot-like mammal from Oligo-Miocene deposits of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, and the Etadunna Formation, Australia. It was first named by Gurovich et al. (2013) and the type species is Bulungu palara. Two additional species, Bulungu campbelli and Bulungu minkinaensis, were also described in 2013. Bulungu muirheadae is the oldest fossil bandicoot recovered to date. An additional three species Bulungu minkinaensis, Bulungu pinpaensis, and Bulungu westermani were named by Travouillon, Beck & Case (2021) allowing for placement of the genus in the superfamily Yaraloidea.
Eoanseranas handae, also sometimes referred to as Hand's dawn magpie goose, is an extinct genus and species of bird. Allied to the family Anseranatidae, which are represented by modern magpie geese, it existed during the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene of northern Australia. It was described from fossil material found at a Carl Creek Limestone site at Riversleigh, in the Boodjamulla National Park of northwestern Queensland. It was slightly smaller than its perceived descendant, the extant magpie goose Anseranas semipalmata.
Lekaneleo is a fossil genus of carnivorous marsupial that existed during the early Miocene in Australia. Once allied to the type species of the genus Priscileo, later placed as Wakaleo pitikantensis, "Priscileo" roskellyae was subsequently transferred to its own genus Lekaneleo.
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