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

  1. 1 2 3 Muirhead and Wroe, 1998.

Bibliography

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