Euryzygoma

Euryzygoma
Temporal range: Pliocene
Life reconstruction of Euryzygoma dunense
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: †Diprotodontidae
Genus: †Euryzygoma
Longman, 1921
Species:
†E. dunense
Binomial name
†Euryzygoma dunense
De Vis, 1888

Euryzygoma is an extinct genus of marsupial which inhabited humid eucalyptus forests in Queensland and New South Wales during the Pliocene of Australia.[1][2] Euryzygoma is believed to have weighed around 500 kg,[3] and differed from other diprotodontids in having unusual, flaring cheekbones that may have been used either for storing food or for sexual display.[4] Euryzygoma is thought to be the ancestral genus from which Diprotodon evolved.[5]

Skull in lateral view

Palaeoecology

Evidence from δ13C analysis of its fossils from the Chinchilla Local Fauna indicates that Euryzygoma dunense was an intermediate feeder with a significant preference for foraging on C3 plants.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Fossilworks: Euryzygoma". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Anaspides.net". www.anaspides.net. Archived from the original on 20 July 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  3. ^ MacPhee, R. D. E. (30 June 1999). Extinctions in Near Time. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-0-306-46092-0.
  4. ^ Long, John A.; Archer, Michael (1 January 2002). Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. UNSW Press. ISBN 978-0-86840-435-6.
  5. ^ Price, Gilbert J.; Piper, Katarzyna J. (December 2009). "Gigantism of the Australian Diprotodon Owen 1838 (Marsupialia, Diprotodontoidea) through the Pleistocene". Journal of Quaternary Science. 24 (8): 1029–1038. Bibcode:2009JQS....24.1029P. doi:10.1002/jqs.1285.
  6. ^ Montanari, Shaena; Louys, Julien; Price, Gilbert J. (12 June 2013). Curnoe, Darren (ed.). "Pliocene Paleoenvironments of Southeastern Queensland, Australia Inferred from Stable Isotopes of Marsupial Tooth Enamel". PLoS ONE. 8 (6) e66221. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...866221M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066221. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3680432. PMID 23776636.
  • "Australia's Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh" by Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, and Henk Godthelp
  • "Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution" by John A. Long, Michael Archer, Timothy Flannery, and Suzanne Hand


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