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Diprotodon
Sign in to saveDiprotodon, from Ancient Greek δί- (dí-), meaning "two", πρῶτος (prôtos), meaning "first", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth", is an extinct genus of diprotodontid marsupial from the Pleistocene of Australia containing one species, D. optatum. The earliest finds date to 1.77 million to 780,000 years ago, but most specimens are dated to after 110,000 years ago. Its remains were first unearthed in 1830, in Wellington Caves, New South Wales, and contemporary paleontologists guessed they belonged to rhinos, elephants, hippos or dugongs.
Article
31 sectionsContents
- Research history
- Classification
- Phylogeny
- Evolution
- Description
- Skull
- Jaws
- Teeth
- Vertebrae
- Limbs
- Girdles
- Long bones
- Paws
- Size
- Paleobiology
- Diet
- Migration and sociality
- Gait
- Life history
- Palaeoecology
- Predation
- Extinction
- Cultural significance
- Fossil evidence
- Mythology
- Rock art representations
- See also
- Notes
- References
- External links
- Further reading
Diprotodon, from Ancient Greek δί- (dí-), meaning "two", πρῶτος (prôtos), meaning "first", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth", is an extinct genus of diprotodontid marsupial from the Pleistocene of Australia containing one species, D. optatum. The earliest finds date to 1.77 million to 780,000 years ago, but most specimens are dated to after 110,000 years ago. Its remains were first unearthed in 1830, in Wellington Caves, New South Wales, and contemporary paleontologists guessed they belonged to rhinos, elephants, hippos or dugongs.
Diprotodon was formally described by English naturalist Richard Owen in 1838, and was the first named Australian fossil mammal. This led Owen to become the foremost authority of his time on other marsupials and Australian megafauna, which were enigmatic to European science.