Thylacoleonid
| Thylacoleonidae Temporal range: Late Oligocene–Pleistocene |
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| Thylacoleo | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: |
†Thylacoleonidae Gill, 1872 |
| Genera | |
Thylacoleonidae is a family of extinct meat-eating marsupials from Australia, referred to as marsupial lions. The best known is Thylacoleo carnifex, also called the marsupial lion. The clade ranged from the Late Oligocene to the , with some species the size of a possum and others as large as a leopard. The discovery of a new small sized species indicates a higher ecological diversity than previously thought. As a whole, they were largely arboreal, in contrast to the mostly terrestrial dasyuromorphs (quolls only recently took the niches vacated by small thylacoleonids), monitor lizards and mekosuchines.
Four genera are currently accepted as belonging to this family:
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