Sthenurus
Sthenurus stirlingi (reconstruction )
Sthenurus was a genus of large, extinct kangaroos. The animals lived in Australia until the late Pleistocene.
Features
The scientific name Sthenurus means something like animal with a powerful tail. The wording is so far peculiar, as at that time (1873 ) only teeth, lower jaw and skull fragments were known. Curiously, however, the animals had actually robust tails, which proved to be a more complete skeletons were recovered about a hundred years later.
Sthenurus belonged as Simosthenurus and Procoptodon in the genre of Sthenurinae. Compared to these two genera, which also survived until the end of the Pleistocene, Sthenurus but had a relatively long snout.
Types and temporal distribution
The genus Sthenurus seems a primitive sister group of Simosthenurus - Procoptodon - line display and appears before 4 million years for the first time in the fossil record. All species of the genus disappeared during the late Pleistocene, apparently at least 30,000 years ago. One type of the Late Pleistocene was about Sthenurus atlas.