Maximucinus muirheadae
Maximucinus muirheadae lived from the late Oligocene to middle Miocene and is the largest thylacinid species known to have lived in Australia from the late Oligocene to the middle Miocene. The species was a quadrupedal marsupial predator, that in appearance looked similar to a dog with a long snout. Its molar teeth were specialized for carnivory; the cups and crest were reduced or elongated to give the molars a cutting blade. It is estimated to have weighed about 18 kilograms.
| Maximucinus muirheadae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
| Family: | †Thylacinidae |
| Genus: | †Maximucinus |
| Species: | †M. muirheadae |
| Binomial name | |
| †Maximucinus muirheadae Wroe, 2001[1] | |
The holotype and only specimen is a second upper molar found in Riversleigh. The species is named after Jeanette Muirhead because of her work on thylacinids.
Taxonomy
The description was published in 2001 as a new species and genus, recognising greater diversity within the thylacinid family. The author, palaeontologist Stephen W. Wroe, was one of several researchers who discovered over ten new fossil species of thylacinids, mostly from new material extracted from sites at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area.[1]
Wroe distinguished the name of the new species by honouring fellow researcher Jeanette Muirhead, whose own works had described new genera and species of the family in the preceding decade. The genus name combines the Latin maximus, large, with kynos, the Ancient Greek word for dog.[1]
Description
A species of a monotypic genus allied to the Thylacinidae family, resembling the diverse and sometimes contemporary species of Thylacinus but for unique features of the dentition. The form is a predatory marsupial, assumed to occupy a trophic level within a variety of habit. As alluded to in the name, the form of the body, skull and snout closely resembles those of dogs and wolves, the Canidae family of placental mammals that dominates other continents, and is amongst the largest known of the thylacinids.[1]
The classification as a "large" mammalian predator follows Tim Flannery's definition of any mammal greater in mass than Dasyurus maculatus, a modern species known as a quoll which Maximucinus muirheadae greatly exceeded with a weight calculated at 18 kilograms. The author used evidence of diversity and size range that emerged from research at Riversleigh, and other material from sites such as Alcoota, to produce new statistical analysis, calculated with regression functions, that showed multiple evolutionary lineages within the family.[1]
References
- Wroe, S. (2001). "Maximucinus muirheadae, gen. et sp. nov. (Thylacinidae : Marsupialia), from the Miocene of Riversleigh, north-western Queensland, with estimates of body weights for fossil thylacinids". Australian Journal of Zoology. 49 (6): 603–314. doi:10.1071/ZO01044.