Thylacoleonidae

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Marsupial lions
Thylacoleo
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Infraclass: Marsupialia Order: Diprotodontia Family: †Thylacoleonidae
Genus
All extinct, see text

Thylacoleonidae is a group of extinct meat-eating marsupials from Australia often called marsupial lions. The best-known is Thylacoleo carnifex, also called the Marsupial Lion. The family ranged from the Late-Oligocene to the Pleistocene, with some species the size of a possum and others as big as a leopard.

[edit] Classification

There are three species in this family.^[1]

• Genus †Priscileo
  • †Priscileo pitikantensis (Upper-Oligocene)
  • †Priscileo roskellyae (Middle-Miocene)
• Subfamily Wakaleoninae
  • Genus †Wakaleo
    • †Wakaleo alcootaensis (Upper-Miocene)
    • †Wakaleo oldfieldi (Lower—Upper-Miocene)
    • †Wakaleo vanderleuri (Middle—Upper Miocene)
• Subfamily Thylacoleoninae
  • Genus †Thylacoleo
    • †Thylacoleo carnifex (Pleistocene)
    • †Thylacoleo crassidentatus (Pliocene)
    • †Thylacoleo hilli (Pliocene)
    • †Thylacoleo robustus
    • †Thylacoleo australis
    • †Thylacoleo oweni

[edit] References