Broad-faced potoroo

Breitkopf kangaroo ( Potorous platyops )

The Breitkopf kangaroo ( Potorous platyops ) is an extinct marsupial from the kind of rabbit kangaroos ( Potorous ) within the family of rat kangaroos.

Features

The Breitkopf kangaroo reached a head-body length of 305 mm, a tail length of 178 mm, a Hinterfußlänge of 54 mm and a weight of about 800 g The top was gray brown and appeared through the straw-colored hair tips striped. The flanks were gray, the underside, including the feet, was light gray. The head was broad, the snout was fairly short.

Occurrence

Living The Breitkopf kangaroo was only known from southwestern Western Australia. Subfossil findings suggest that it was originally spread from the southern edge of the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia on the Kangaroo Island in South Australia to the lower reaches of the Murray River.

Habitat and behavior

The Breitkopf kangaroo inhabited high forests. About his life nothing is known.

Status

The holotype of Breitkopf kangaroos was killed in 1842 by John Gilbert in the area of Goomalling and King George Sound in Western Australia and described in 1844 by John Gould. In the 1860s, the naturalist George Masters collected five additional copies between the King George Sound and the Pallinup River. The five last known specimens were collected 1874-1875 and sold to the National Museum in Victoria. A supposedly held for a Breitkopf Kangaroo copy from the region of Margaret River near Busselton, the London Zoo acquired in 1908, turned out to be wrong unidentified juvenile Quokka. A 1977 by the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife through guided expedition to the rediscovery of the species remained inconclusive. Possible Aussterbeursachen were the predation by feral cats and introduced diseases.