Palorchestes
Palorchestes Azeal (reconstruction )
Palorchestes refers to a genus of extinct marsupials of Australia. The last surviving member Palorchestes Azeal reached the size of an ox, and survived until the Late Pleistocene. Because of a suspected snout, the animals are sometimes referred to as Beuteltapire.
Features
Palorchestes had extended claw- rate front legs while the hind legs were relatively poorly developed, but also contributed claws. A well-preserved skull discovery of the kind Palorchestes painei ( tapirähnliches marsupial ) suggests that at least this type had a trunk. Since the Pleistocene kind Palorchestes was very similar Azeal in other morphological aspects of this but there is no so well-preserved skull, it is believed that this species could have possessed a proboscis. The Unterkieferbau all Palorchestes species indicated in addition to the fact that the animals had a long tongue, similar to today's giraffes. The teeth were hochkronig and complex, indicating fiber-rich foods, such as bark. The powerful front legs could have served to tear bark from trees or dig up roots.
Species
- Palorchestes Azeal (Pleistocene )
- Palorchestes parvus ( Early Pliocene )
- Palorchestes selestiae ( Early Pliocene )
- Palorchestes painei ( Late Miocene )
- Palorchestes annulus ( Early Spätmiozän )
A likely precursor of the genus Palorchestes was Propalorchestes from the Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene, which also belonged to the genus of Palorchestidae.