Thylacosmilus

Thylacosmilus, left in the background Glyptodon

• South America: Argentina ( Catamarca Province )

Thylacosmilus is an extinct marsupial from the order of Sparassodonta. He lived in the Pliocene in South America and is the most famous representative of the Thylocosmilidae family. The extinct family of Thylacosmilidae was widespread in South America from the Miocene to Pliocene to. Their skulls were very similar to those of the placental saber-toothed cats, but the Thylacosmilidae marsupials and these were therefore only very distantly related.

Thylacosmilus was about as large as today's Jaguar around 1.2 meters long and with a reconstructed weight of 106 kg. He was dressed like the saber-toothed cats in the upper jaw a pair of long canines that jutted out far beyond the mouth line. Characteristic were the big tooth in the lower jaw sheaths, which we found in Nimravids and saber-toothed cats and obviously had the task to protect the teeth when the mouth is closed. However, in contrast to the saber-toothed cats the Thylacosmilus lacked the incisors and retractable claws.

Prey to Thylacosmilus were probably large, slow mammals.

An artistic interpretation of Thylacosmilus.