Wakaleo vanderleuri

Taxobox
name = "Wakaleo vanderleuri"
fossil_range = Miocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
infraclassis = Marsupialia
ordo = Diprotodontia
familia = †Thylacoleonidae
genus = †"Wakaleo"
species = †"W. vanderleuri"
binomial = †"Wakaleo vanderleuri"
binomial_authority = Clemens & Plane, 1974

"Wakaleo vanderleuri" is a species of "marsupial lion" that lived in Australia during the Miocene (approximately 16 to 10 million years ago). It is not closely related to true cats, as being a marsupial its closest living relatives are wombats and the Koala. This diprotodont is hypothesized to have been an omnivore, eating significant amounts of meat, perhaps more like a bear in diet and habit than like an actual lion. It lacked large canine-like fangs, producing some controversy regarding just how much it actually preyed on living animals. The meat-eating hypothesis is based largely upon the morphology of its molar teeth. The species is believed to have been able to hunt by leaping from trees onto its prey.cite book| last = Ellis| first = Richard| authorlink = Richard Ellis (biologist) | title = No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species| publisher = Harper Perennial | date = 2004| location = New York| pages = 101| isbn =0-06-055804-0 ]

The type species fossils were originally found in the Bollock Creek area.

References

External links

* [http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/Metazoa/Deuterostoma/Chordata/Synapsida/Metatheria/Notometatheria/Diprotodontia/diprotodontia.htm Mikko's Phylogeny Archive]
* [http://www.lostkingdoms.com/facts/factsheet34.htm Australias Lost Kingdom]