Wakaleo vanderleuri

Wakaleo vanderleuri is a species of marsupial lion of the genus Wakaleo, that lived in Australia during the Miocene (about 16 to 10 million years ago).

Wakaleo vanderleuri
Temporal range:
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: †Thylacoleonidae
Genus: †Wakaleo
Species:
†W. vanderleuri
Binomial name
†Wakaleo vanderleuri
Clemens & Plane, 1974[1]

Description

Being a marsupial, it is not closely related to true cats. This animal is hypothesized to have been an omnivore, eating significant amounts of meat, perhaps more like a bear in diet and habit than like an actual lion. It lacked large canine-like fangs, producing some controversy regarding just how much it actually preyed on living animals. The meat-eating hypothesis is based largely upon the morphology of its molar teeth. The species is believed to have been able to hunt by leaping from trees onto its prey.[2][3]

The type species fossils were originally found in the Bullock Creek (Northern Territory) area. It has been found in limestone deposits in Riversleigh.[3]

The first fossil, a right dentary fragment, was found in 1967 by a group of field workers at Bullock Creek in the Northern Territory. A left dentary of the species in a good state of preservation was described in 1896.[4] Since then more fossils have been recovered, including a well-preserved near-complete cranium with the mandible intact.[3]

References
  1. Clemens, W.A.; Plane, M. (1974). "Mid-Tertiary Thylacoleonidae (Marsupialia, Mammalia)". Journal of Paleontology. 48 (4): 653–660. ISSN 0022-3360.
  2. Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 101. ISBN 0-06-055804-0.
  3. "Wakaleo vanderleueri Vanderleuer's Little Lion". Riversleigh faunal encyclopedia. wakaleo.net. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  4. Megirian, D. (28 January 1986). "The dentary of Wakaleo vanderleueri (Thylacoleonidae: Marsupialia)". The Beagle: Occasional Papers of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences. 3: 71–79.


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