Protemnodon[1]
Temporal range: Pliocene - Late Pleistocene
Skull of Protemnodon anak at the Melbourne Museum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Macropodidae
Subfamily: Lagostrophinae
Genus: †Protemnodon
Owen, 1874
Type species
†Protemnodon anak
Owen, 1874
Paleospecies
  • †P. anak
  • †P. brehus
  • †P. chinchillaensis
  • †P. hopei
  • †P. otibandus
  • †P. roechus
  • †P. snewini
  • †P. tumbuna

Protemnodon is an extinct genus of megafaunal macropodids that existed in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea in the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Members of this genus are also called giant kangaroos.

Taxonomy

Recent analysis of mtDNA extracted from fossils indicates that Protemnodon was closely related to Macropus.[2] The species formerly known as Protemnodon bandharr and Protemnodon buloloensis have been moved to a new genus, Silvaroo, while the New Guinean species P. nombe has been moved to the new genus Nombe.[3]

Description

Restoration of Protemnodon anak

Based on fossil evidence, Protemnodon is thought to have been physically similar to wallabies, but generally larger and more robust. Protemnodon roechus was the largest in the genus, weighing around 170 kg.[4]

Several species of Protemnodon survived up until around 50,000 years ago. P. tumbuna may have survived in the highlands of Papua New Guinea as recently as 12,000 years B.P.[5]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Protemnodon.
  1. ^ Haaramo, M. (20 December 2004). "Mikko's Phylogeny Archive: Macropodidae - kenguroos". Archived from the original on 31 March 2007. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
  2. ^ Llamas, B.; Brotherton, P.; Mitchell, K. J.; Templeton, J. E. L.; Thomson, V. A.; Metcalf, J. L.; Armstrong, K. N.; Kasper, M.; Richards, S. M.; Camens, A. B.; Lee, M. S. Y.; Cooper, A. (2014-12-18). "Late Pleistocene Australian marsupial DNA clarifies the affinities of extinct megafaunal kangaroos and wallabies". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 32 (3): 574–584. doi:10.1093/molbev/msu338. PMID 25526902.
  3. ^ Kerr, Isaac A. R.; Prideaux, Gavin J. (2022-06-29). "A new genus of kangaroo (Marsupialia, Macropodidae) from the late Pleistocene of Papua New Guinea". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 146 (2): 295–318. Bibcode:2022TRSAu.146..295K. doi:10.1080/03721426.2022.2086518. ISSN 0372-1426. S2CID 250189771.
  4. ^ Helgen, K.M.; Wells, R.T.; Kear, B.P.; Gerdtz, W.R. & Flannery, T.F. (2006). "Ecological and evolutionary significance of sizes of giant extinct kangaroos". Australian Journal of Zoology. 54 (#4): 293–303. doi:10.1071/ZO05077.
  5. ^ Flannery, T.F.; Mountain, M-J.; Aplin, K. (1983). "Quaternary kangaroos (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) from Nombe rock shelter, Papua New Guinea, with comments on the nature of megafaunal extinction in the New Guinea highlands". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 107 (2): 75–97.
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