Badjcinus
| Badjcinus Temporal range: Late Oligocene | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
| Family: | †Thylacinidae |
| Genus: | Badjcinus |
| Species: | B. turnbulli |
| Binomial name | |
| Badjcinus turnbulli (Muirhead & Wroe, 1998) | |
Badjcinus turnbulli is an extinct thylacinid marsupial.[1]
Phylogenetic analysis shows that thylacines are a clade which does not include the dasyurids. Badjcinus was one of the most primitive members of its group, living 23 to 28 million years ago in the late Oligocene.[1]
The generic name is from the Wanyi Aboriginal language "badj", 'expert hunter', and Ancient Greek "kynos", 'dog'
Badjcinus was quite small, averaging 5.2 pounds (2.4 kg) in weight. It was a carnivore, probably eating small vertebrates and insects, as living Dasyurus species do today. The fossils were found at Riversleigh in north-west Queensland, Australia. Since other animals at Riversleigh were rainforest species, it is possible that B. turnbulli was arboreal, like Dasyurus maculatus.[1]
References
Bibliography
- Muirhead, Jeanette; Wroe, Stephen (September 1998). "A New Genus and Species, Badjcinus turnbulli (Thylacinidae: Marsupialia), from the LateOligocene of Riversleigh, Northern Australia, and an Investigation of Thylacinid Phylogeny". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18 (3): 612–626. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011088.