Maximucinus

Last updated

Maximucinus
Temporal range: Lower Oligocene–Middle Miocene
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Family: Thylacinidae
Genus: Maximucinus
Species:
M. muirheadae
Binomial name
Maximucinus muirheadae
Wroe, 2001 [1]

Maximucinus muirheadae is the largest known thylacinid species that lived in Queensland, Australia from the late Oligocene to the middle Miocene. The species was a quadrupedal marsupial predator, that in appearance looked similar to a dog with a long snout. Its molar teeth were specialized for carnivory; the cups and crest were reduced or elongated to give the molars a cutting blade. It is estimated to have weighed about 18 kilograms.

Contents

The holotype and only specimen is a second upper molar found in Riversleigh. The species is named after Jeanette Muirhead because of her work on thylacinids.

Taxonomy

The description was published in 2001 as a new species and genus, recognising greater diversity within the thylacinid family. The author, palaeontologist Stephen W. Wroe, was one of several researchers who discovered over ten new fossil species of thylacinids, mostly from new material extracted from sites at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area. [1]

Wroe distinguished the name of the new species by honouring fellow researcher Jeanette Muirhead, whose own works had described new genera and species of the family in the preceding decade. The genus name combines the Latin maximus, large, with kynos, the Ancient Greek word for dog. [1]

Description

Known only from a single specimen, an upper right M2 molar, Wroe estimated M. muirheadae's weight at 18 kilograms, the largest thylacinid discovered from the middle Miocene. [1] [2] The author used evidence of diversity and size range that emerged from research at Riversleigh, and other material from sites such as Alcoota, to produce new statistical analysis, calculated with regression functions, that showed multiple evolutionary lineages within the family. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peramelemorphia</span> Order of mammals

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thylacinidae</span> Extinct family of marsupials

Thylacinidae is an extinct family of carnivorous, superficially dog-like marsupials from the order Dasyuromorphia. The only species to survive into modern times was the thylacine, which became extinct in 1936.

<i>Nimbacinus dicksoni</i> Extinct species of marsupial

Nimbacinus dicksoni is an extinct thylacinid marsupial, a close relative of the recent but extinct thylacinid known as the Tasmanian tiger. It lived approximately 23-16 million years ago in the Miocene period. Nimbacinus dicksoni was about 1.6 ft (50 cm) long. Being a predator, it likely ate birds, small mammals, and reptiles. Like the recently-extinct thylacine, it may have been an awkward runner and used stamina to catch prey rather than speed. Fossils have been found in Australia at Riversleigh in north-western Queensland and Bullock Creek in the Northern Territory.

<i>Thylacinus potens</i> Extinct species of marsupial

Thylacinus potens 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 most recent species of thylacine by 4–6 million years, and was 5% bigger, 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 now-extinct thylacine.

Badjcinus turnbulli is an extinct thylacinid marsupial.

<i>Thylacinus megiriani</i> Extinct species of marsupial

Thylacinus megiriani lived during the late Miocene, 8 million years ago; the area T. megiriani inhabited in the Northern Territory was covered in forest with a permanent supply of water.

Muribacinus gadiyuli lived during the middle Miocene in Riversleigh. The species name comes from Wanyi aboriginal word for "little", in reference to its considerably small size compared to the modern thylacine and was similar in size to a fox-terrier dog, and "father" for the ancestral characteristics of the fossilised teeth.

Mutpuracinus archibaldi is an extinct carnivorous, quadrupedal marsupial that lived during the middle Miocene and is the smallest known thylacinid at approximately 1.1 kilograms, the size of a quoll, though, more closely related to the recently extinct thylacine.

Ngamalacinus timmulvaneyi lived during the early Miocene and has been found in Riversleigh.

Wabulacinus ridei lived during the early Miocene in Riversleigh. It is named after David Ride, who made the first revision of thylacinid fossils. The material was found in system C of the Camel Spurtum assembledge.

Naraboryctes philcreaseri is a fossil species of marsupial found at early Miocene deposits of Boodjamulla National Park of Riversleigh area, northwestern Queensland, Australia.

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 adnd 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.

<i>Microleo</i> Extinct genus of marsupials

Microleo attenboroughi is a very small species of the Thylacoleonidae family of marsupials from the Early Miocene of Australia, living in the wet forest that dominated Riversleigh about 18 million years ago. The genus Microleo is currently known from a broken palate and two pieces of jaw, containing some teeth and roots that correspond to those found in other species of thylacoleonids. The shape and structure of the blade-like P3 tooth, a premolar, distinguished the species as a new genus. It was found in Early Miocene-aged deposits of the Riversleigh fossil site in Queensland, regarded as one of the most significant palaeontological sites yet discovered, and named for the naturalist David Attenborough in appreciation of his support for its heritage listing. The anatomy of Microleo suggests the genus is basal to all the known thylacoleonids, known as the marsupial lions, although its relative size prompted one discoverer to describe it as the "feisty" kitten of the family.

Joculusium muizoni is a fossil species discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area. Little is known about the animal.

Brevipalatus mcculloughi is a species of bat that existed in the early Miocene. It was discovered at a fossil deposit of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area.

Hipposideros winsburyorum is a hipposiderid species of bat known by fossil specimens, one of the many new taxa of chiropterans discovered in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area. The species existed during the Pliocene.

<i>Crash bandicoot <span style="font-style:normal;">(species)</span></i> Fossil species of marsupial

Crash bandicoot is an extinct bandicoot, known from fossils located at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northeast Australia.

Liyamayi dayi is a mammal species of the Thylacomyidae family known from fossils located at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northeast Australia. The discovery of the specimens was identified as deposited around fifteen million years ago, revising the earliest record of this peramelemorphian lineage from those of species that existed around ten million years later.

Lekaneleo roskellyae is a fossil species 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.

Thylacinus yorkellus is a fossil species of carnivorous marsupial, a sister species of the recently extinct Thylacinus cynocephalus, the Tasmanian tiger, both of which existed on mainland Australia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Wroe, S. (2001). "Maximucinus muirheadae, gen. et sp. nov. (Thylacinidae : Marsupialia), from the Miocene of Riversleigh, north-western Queensland, with estimates of body weights for fossil thylacinids". Australian Journal of Zoology. 49 (6): 603–314. doi:10.1071/ZO01044.
  2. "Maximucinus murheadae". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.