Propleopus
Live reconstruction of Propleopus
- Darling Downs, Queensland
- Lake Menindee, New South Wales
Propleopus, in the English as a giant rat- kangaroo (that giant rat kangaroo ) called, was a kangaroo species that occurred in the Pliocene and Pleistocene in Australia and is one of the extinct megafauna of the continent. The closest living relative is the musk- rat kangaroo. Propleopus was, however, significantly heavier with about 70 kg. It was unlike most of today's kangaroos probably an omnivore. This is suggested by the particular morphology of the teeth. Whether the animals were also able to kill something larger animals is controversial.
Two species are known, Propleopus oscillans chillagoensis from the Pleistocene and Propleopus that occurred also in the Pleistocene, but also in the Pliocene. Propleopus oscillans survived until the end of the Pleistocene and is known from sites on Lake Menindee, whose deposits have been dated to around 55,000 years. It was thus probably a victim of the Quaternary extinctions, died of a majority of the Australian megafauna around 50,000 years ago.
Swell
- John A. Long. inter alia: Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2003, ISBN 0-8018-7223-5.
- Extinct Marsupial
- Marsupial
- Metatheria