Diprotodon is an extinct genus of gigantic quadrupedal marsupial native to Australia during the Pleistocene epoch.
The thylacine is an extinct carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. It was the largest known carnivorous marsupial in the world prior to its extinction, evolving about 2 million years ago. The last known live animal was captured in 1930 in Tasmania. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf. Various Aboriginal Tasmanian names have been recorded, such as coorinna, kanunnah, cab-berr-one-nen-er, loarinna, laoonana, can-nen-ner and lagunta, while kaparunina is used in the constructed language of Palawa kani.
Diprotodontia is the largest extant order of marsupials, with about 155 species, including the kangaroos, wallabies, possums, koala, wombats, and many others. Extinct diprotodonts include the hippopotamus-sized Diprotodon, and Thylacoleo, the so-called "marsupial lion".
In terrestrial zoology, the megafauna comprises the large or giant animals of an area, habitat, or geological period. The most common thresholds used are weight over 40 kilograms (90 lb) or 44 kilograms (100 lb) or over a tonne, 1,000 kilograms (2,205 lb). The first of these include many species not popularly thought of as overly large, such as white-tailed deer and red kangaroo.
Macropodidae is a family of marsupials, commonly known as kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons, quokkas, and several other terms. These genera are allied to the suborder Macropodiformes, containing other macropods, and are native to the Australian continent, New Guinea and nearby islands.
Potoroidae is a family of marsupials, small Australian animals known as bettongs, potoroos, and rat-kangaroos. All are rabbit-sized, brown, jumping marsupials and resemble a large rodent or a very small wallaby.
The banded hare-wallaby, mernine, or munning is a marsupial currently found on the Islands of Bernier and Dorre off western Australia. Reintroduced populations have recently been established on islands and fenced mainland sites, including Faure Island and Wadderin Sanctuary near Narembeen in the central wheatbelt..
Thylacoleo is an extinct genus of carnivorous marsupials that lived in Australia from the late Pliocene to the late Pleistocene. Some of these marsupial lions were the largest mammalian predators in Australia of their time, with Thylacoleo carnifex approaching the weight of a lioness. The estimated average weight for the species ranges from 101 to 130 kg.
The term Australian megafauna refers to a number of megafauna in Australia during the Pleistocene Epoch. Most of these species became extinct during the latter half of the Pleistocene, and the roles of human and climatic factors in their extinction are contested.
Pleistocene megafauna is the set of large animals that lived on Earth during the Pleistocene epoch and became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event. Megafauna are any animals with an adult body weight of over 45 kilograms (99 lb).
Procoptodon is an extinct genus of giant short-faced kangaroos that lived in Australia during the Pleistocene Epoch. P. goliah, the largest known kangaroo species that ever existed, stood at about 2 m (6.6 ft). They weighed about 200–240 kg (440–530 lb). Other members of the genus are smaller, however; Procoptodon gilli is the smallest of all of the sthenurine kangaroos, standing approximately 1 m tall.
Sthenurinae is a subfamily within the marsupial family Macropodidae, known as 'short faced kangaroos'. No members of this subfamily are extant today, with all becoming extinct by the late Pleistocene. Procoptodon goliah, the largest macropodid known to have existed, was a sthenurine kangaroo, but sthenurines occurred in a range of sizes, with Procoptodon gilli being the smallest at the size of a small wallaby.
The mammals of Australia have a rich fossil history, as well as a variety of extant mammalian species, dominated by the marsupials, but also including monotremes and placentals. The marsupials evolved to fill specific ecological niches, and in many cases they are physically similar to the placental mammals in Eurasia and North America that occupy similar niches, a phenomenon known as convergent evolution. For example, the top mammalian predators in Australia, the Tasmanian tiger and the marsupial lion, bore a striking resemblance to large canids such as the gray wolf and large cats respectively; gliding possums and flying squirrels have similar adaptations enabling their arboreal lifestyle; and the numbat and anteaters are both digging insectivores. Most of Australia's mammals are herbivores or omnivores.
Macropus is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has 13 extant species, which are divided into three subgenera. The genus includes four species of large terrestrial kangaroos, two species of wallaroos, and eight extant species of wallabies. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, makros "long" and πους, pous "foot". Thirteen known extinct species are recognised. The type species is the eastern grey kangaroo.
Sthenurus is an extinct genus of kangaroos. With a length around 3 m (10 ft), some species were twice as large as modern extant species. Sthenurus was related to the better-known Procoptodon. The subfamily Sthenurinae is believed to have separated from its sister taxon, the Macropodinae, halfway through the Miocene, and then its population grew during the Pliocene.
Thylacoleo carnifex, also known as the "marsupial lion", is an extinct species of carnivorous marsupial mammal that lived in Australia from the early to the late Pleistocene. Despite its name, it is not closely related to the lion but is a member of the order Diprotodontia, one of the taxonomic groups of Australian marsupials.
Protemnodon is a genus of megafaunal macropodids that existed in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea in the Pliocene and Pleistocene.
Simosthenurus occidentalis is a species of sthenurine marsupial that existed in Australia during the Pliocene, becoming extinct in the Pleistocene epoch around 42 000 years ago. A large herbivorous biped that resembles large kangaroos, the species had a heavier body than the modern roo. The structure of the skull and teeth indicates it consumed tough vegetation, resembling koalas and panda bears, and is referred to as a short-faced kangaroo.
Cookeroo is a genus of extinct kangaroos from the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene found in fossil deposits from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, in Australia. The genus includes two species, C. bulwidarri and C. hortusensis.
Jillian Maree Garvey is an Australian archaeologist and researcher specialising in late Quaternary Australian Indigenous Archaeology at La Trobe University in Melbourne (Bundoora), Australia. She is an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award Fellow in Archaeology. Her research interests include Australian Aboriginal Archaeology, Experimental Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Late Pleistocene and Holocene Palaeoecology and Zooarchaeology and she is a specialist in the taphonomic identification of animal bones and invertebrate fauna.
