Wakaleo oldfieldi

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

"Wakaleo oldfieldi" is an extinct species of marsupial lion found in the tertiary deposits of South Australia. There are three unfused molar teeth instead of two fused molars as is the case with the Pleistocene "Thylacoleo carnifex".

As with "T. carnifex", this species is presumed to used its maxillary (upper) teeth to hold its food and sharpen the mandibular teeth, the later were also used in slicing and stabbing during eating. The premolars also had a crescent shaped circumference for slicing. [ http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacoleo/introducing/introducing_tc_2.htm Accessed 2007/06/09 ]

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]
* [http://www.bio.usyd.edu.au/staff/swroe/Wroe2003Recentadvancesinmarsupialcarnivorepalaeontology.PDF Information fromCSIRO]
* [http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacoleo/species/GS_tertiary.htm A picture of the specimen's mandible]