Nototherium

Nototherium
Temporal range: Pliocene–Pleistocene
Fossil skull
Life reconstruction of Nototherium mitcheli
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Diprotodontidae
Genus: Nototherium
Owen, 1845
Type species
Nototherium inerme
Owen, 1845
Species

See text

Nototherium ("Southern Beast") is an extinct genus of diprotodontid marsupial from Australia and New Guinea. This marsupial had hypsodont molars and weighed around 500 kg.[1] It was a relative of the larger Diprotodon and a distant kin to modern wombats.

Species[edit]

  • Nototherium inerme Owen, 1845
  • Nototherium watutense Anderson, 1937 (formerly considered to be a member of Kolopsis) Plio-Pleistocene, New Guinea.[2]
  • Nototherium mitchelli Owen, 1845 Pleistocene, Australia (possibly a junior synonym of N. inerme)[2]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Ross D.E. MacPhee, Hans-Dieter Sues, 1999, Extinctions in Near Time, p.251, Springer Science & Business Media
  2. ^ a b Mackness, Brian (March 2013). "On the identity of ' Kolopsis ' watutense (Anderson, 1937) (Diprotodontidae, Marsupialia) and the New Guinean diprotodontid radiation". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 37 (1): 39–47. doi:10.1080/03115518.2012.701488. ISSN 0311-5518. S2CID 85153904.
  • Wildlife of Gondwana: Dinosaurs and Other Vertebrates from the Ancient Supercontinent (Life of the Past) by Pat Vickers Rich, Thomas Hewitt Rich, Francesco Coffa, and Steven Morton
  • Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution by John A. Long, Michael Archer, Timothy Flannery, and Suzanne Hand