Ekaltadeta
| Ekaltadeta Temporal range: Oligocene–Pleistocene | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | Hypsiprymnodontidae |
| Subfamily: | Propleopinae |
| Genus: | Ekaltadeta Archer & Flannery, 1985 |
| Species | |
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Ekaltadeta is an extinct genus of giant marsupials related to modern rat-kangaroos.
They are hypothesized to have been either predatory, or omnivorous with a fondness for meat, based on their chewing teeth. This conclusion is based mainly on the size and shape of a large buzz-saw-shaped cheek-tooth, the adult third premolar, which is common to all Ekaltadeta. A few species actually did also have long predatory "fangs".
Fossils of the animals include two near complete skulls, and numerous upper and lower jaws.
External links
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