Euryzygoma
Temporal range: Pliocene
Life reconstruction of Euryzygoma dunense
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: †Diprotodontidae
Genus: †Euryzygoma
Longman, 1921
Species:
†E. dunense
Binomial name
†Euryzygoma dunense
De Vis, 1888

Euryzygoma is an extinct genus of marsupial which inhabited humid eucalyptus forests in Queensland and New South Wales during the Pliocene of Australia.[1][2] Euryzygoma is believed to have weighed around 500 kg,[3] and differed from other diprotodonts in having unusual, flaring cheekbones that may have been used either for storing food or for sexual display.[4] Euryzygoma is thought to be the ancestral genus from which Diprotodon evolved.[5]

Skull in lateral view

References

  1. ↑ "Fossilworks: Euryzygoma". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  2. ↑ "Anaspides.net". www.anaspides.net. Archived from the original on 2017-07-20. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  3. ↑ MacPhee, R. D. E. (1999-06-30). Extinctions in Near Time. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9780306460920.
  4. ↑ Long, John A.; Archer, Michael (2002-01-01). Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. UNSW Press. ISBN 9780868404356.
  5. ↑ Price, Gilbert J.; Piper, Katarzyna J. (December 2009). "Gigantism of the Australian Diprotodon Owen 1838 (Marsupialia, Diprotodontoidea) through the Pleistocene". Journal of Quaternary Science. 24 (8): 1029–1038. doi:10.1002/jqs.1285.
  • "Australia's Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh" by Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, and Henk Godthelp
  • "Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution" by John A. Long, Michael Archer, Timothy Flannery, and Suzanne Hand


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