Macropodidae
| Macropods Temporal range: 28–0 Ma Late Oligocene to recent |
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| Red-necked wallaby | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Suborder: | Macropodiformes |
| Family: |
Macropodidae Gray, 1821 |
| Genera | |
Macropods are marsupials belonging to the family Macropodidae, the kangaroo family, which includes kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, pademelons, quokkas, and several others. Macropods are native to the Australian continent (the mainland, Tasmania, New Guinea and nearby islands). Before European settlement of Australia, about 65 species of macropods existed. Six species have since become extinct and a further eleven have been greatly reduced in numbers. Other species (e.g. Simosthenurus, Propleopus, Macropus titan) became extinct after the Australian Aborigines arrived and before the Europeans arrived.
Although omnivorous kangaroos lived in the past, modern macropods are herbivorous. Some are browsers, but most are grazers and are equipped with appropriately specialised teeth for cropping and grinding up fibrous plants, in particular grasses and sedges. In general, macropods have a broad, straight row of cutting teeth at the front of the mouth, no canine teeth, and a gap before the molars. The molars are large and, unusually, do not appear all at once but a pair at a time at the back of the mouth as the animal ages, eventually becoming worn down by the tough, abrasive grasses and falling out. Like many Macropodiformes, early kangaroos had plagiaulacoids, but these converted into normal molars in more derived species. Most species have four molars and, when the last pair is too worn to be of use, the animals starve to death. The dental formula for macropods is 3.0-1.2.41.0.2.4
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