In Depth A relative of the more famous Diprotodon, Zygomaturus was another of the exceptionally large wombats that once roamed around Australia. As a genus Zygomaturus has been envisioned as preferring to live around waterways such as rivers and lakes where they could browse upon the aquatic plants that grew around the water’s edge. Like … Read more
Diprotodon the Giant Wombat So far not only is Diprotodon the largest of the Australian megafauna, but it is also the largest known marsupial mammal to ever exist. Often loosely dubbed as rhinoceros-sized, there is some variation between specimens which was once taken to indicate various species. More modern analysis of the differences in these specimens … Read more
In Depth Hulitherium is a genus of diprotodont wombat that lived in New guinea during the Pleistocene. Not much is known about Hulitherium, though the arm structure suggests that this genus was significantly more mobile than other diprotodonts. Further Reading Further reading- A new late Pleistocene diprotodontid (Marsupialia) from Pureni, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New … Read more
In Depth Although Alphadon is only named from teeth, these are very similar to possums. Combined with our current knowledge of other late Cretaceous mammals, palaeontologists have concluded that Alphadon was probably a possum-like mammal that fed upon a variety of insects and fruits. Additionally Alphadon is classed as a marsupial which means that young … Read more
In Depth Microleo is a genus of thylacoleonid marsupial that lived in Australia during the early Miocene. Microleo has already become well known as a relative of the fearsome Thylacoleo, however it seems that Microleo was much smaller. Because of the lack of overall fossil remains for the holotype, an exact size for Microleo is … Read more