Propleopus

Propleopus
Temporal range: 4.3–0.055 Ma
Pliocene - Pleistocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Hypsiprymnodontidae
Genus: Propleopus
Longman, 1924[1]
Type species
Triclas oscillans
De Vis, 1888[2]

Propleopus is an extinct genus of marsupials. Three species are known: P. chillagoensis from the Plio-Pleistocene, and P. oscillans and P. wellingtonensis[3] from the Pleistocene. In contrast to most other kangaroos, and similar to their small extant relative, the musky rat-kangaroo, they were probably omnivorous.

The species assigned to this genus are:

  • Propleopus chillagoensis Archer et al., 1978
  • Propleopus oscillans (De Vis, 1888) (type species)
  • Propleopus wellingtonensis (Archer & Flannery, 1985)[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Longman, Heber A. (1924). "Some Queensland fossil vertebrates". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 8: 16–28.
  2. ^ De Vis, C.W. (1888). "On an extinct genus of the marsupials allied to Hypsiprymnodon". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 13. Linnean Society of New South Wales.: 5–8.
  3. ^ Wroe, S. (1996). "An Investigation of Phylogeny in the Giant Extinct Rat Kangaroo Ekaltadeta (Propleopinae, Potoroidae, Marsupialia)". Journal of Paleontology. 70 (4): 681–690. doi:10.1017/S0022336000023635. ISSN 0022-3360. JSTOR 1306529. S2CID 86211685.
  4. ^ Archer, M.; Flannery, T. (1985). "Revision of the Extinct Gigantic Rat Kangaroos (Potoroidae: Marsupialia), with Description of a New Miocene Genus and Species and a New Pleistocene Species of Propleopus". Journal of Paleontology. 59 (6): 1331–1349. ISSN 0022-3360. JSTOR 1304948.