Sthenurinae

Mounted skeleton of Simosthenurus occidentalis in the Victoria Fossil Cave, photographed by ccdoh1.

Belongs within: Macropodidae.

The Sthenurinae include the fossil short-faced kangaroos, some of which are among the largest known kangaroos. The late-surviving Procoptodon goliah reached approximately two metres in height and may have weighed over 200 kg. Sthenurines probably would have been browsers on leaves rather than grazers like modern kangaroos.

Characters (from Long et al. 2002): Skulls relatively short and deep, with wide rostra and thick ectotympanic bones. I^1-3 tending to form narrow V-shaped arcade; I³ with elongate crown relative to I¹ and I². Lower jaws often fused at symphysis. Premolars usually wide, high-crowned, complex; molars with crenulated enamel, postlink crest on rear of upper molars; lower molars often with well-developed premetacristid blade extending forward to join paracristid. Digits I and IV on fore foot often greatly reduced, digits II and III elongate; hind foot usually with all digits except IV reduced or lost. Astragalus with high, rounded crests on tibial surface.

<==Sthenurinae
    |  i. s.: Rhizosthenurus Kear 2002 BA12
    |           `--*R. flanneryi Kear 2002 BA12
    |         Archaeosimos BA12
    |           |--A. cegsai (Pledge 1992) BA12
    |           `--A. correlli Prideaux 2004 BA12
    |--Wanburoo Cooke 1999 PW10, LA02
    |    `--*W. hilarus Cooke 1999 LA02
    `--+--Hadronomas Woodburne 1967 LA02
       |    `--*H. puckridgi Woodburne 1967 LA02
       `--+--Sthenurus Owen 1873 LA02
          |    |  i. s.: S. notabilis Bartholomai 1963 LA02
          |    |--S. andersoni Marcus 1962 FS15, M62
          |    `--+--*S. atlas (Owen 1838) LA02, FS15, LA02 [=Macropus atlas F71]
          |       `--+--S. stirlingi Wells & Tedford 1995 FS15, LA02
          |          `--S. tindalei Tedford 1966 FS15, LA02
          `--+--Metasthenurus newtonae (Prideaux 2004) FS15, BA12
             `--+--Procoptodon Owen 1874 LA02
                |    |  i. s.: P. oreas D07
                |    |         P. pusio Owen 1874 LA02
                |    |         P. rapha Owen 1874 LA02
                |    |         P. texasensis Archer 1978 LA02
                |    |--P. browneorum FS15
                |    `--+--*P. goliah (Owen 1845) LA02, FS15, LA02 [=Macropus goliah F71]
                |       `--P. gilli FS15
                `--Simosthenurus Tedford 1966 LA02
                     |--*S. occidentalis (Glauert 1910) [=Sthenurus (*Simosthenurus) occidentalis] LA02
                     |--S. antiquus (Bartholomai 1963) LA02 [=Sthenurus (Simosthenurus) antiquus F71]
                     |--S. baileyi (Prideaux & Wells 1998) LA02
                     |--S. brachyselenis (Prideaux & Wells 1997) LA02
                     |--S. browneorum (Merrilees 1968) LA02
                     |--S. cegsai (Pledge 1992) LA02
                     |--S. euryskaphus (Prideaux & Wells 1997) LA02
                     |--S. gilli (Merrilees 1965) LA02
                     |--S. maddocki (Wells & Murray 1979) LA02
                     |--S. mccoyi Turnbull, Lundelius & Tedford 1992 LA02
                     |--S. newtonae Prideaux 2000 LA02
                     |--S. oreas (De Vis 1895) LA02 [=Sthenurus (Simosthenurus) oreas F71]
                     |--S. orientalis (Tedford 1966) LA02 [=Sthenurus (Simosthenurus) orientalis F71]
                     |--S. pales (De Vis 1895) LA02 [=Sthenurus (Simosthenurus) pales F71]
                     `--S. tirarensis Prideaux 2004 BA12

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BA12] Black, K. H., M. Archer, S. J. Hand & H. Godthelp. 2012. The rise of Australian marsupials: a synopsis of biostratigraphic, phylogenetic, palaeoecologic and palaeobiogeographic understanding. In: Talent, J. A. (ed.) Earth and Life: Global biodiversity, extinction intervals and biogeographic perturbations through time pp. 983–1078. Springer.

[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.

[FS15] Faurby, S., & J.-C. Svenning. 2015. A species-level phylogeny of all extant and late Quaternary extinct mammals using a novel heuristic-hierarchical Bayesian approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 14–26.

[F71] Fletcher, H. O. 1971. Catalogue of type specimens of fossils in the Australian Museum, Sydney. Australian Museum Memoir 13: 1–167.

[LA02] Long, J., M. Archer, T. Flannery & S. Hand. 2002. Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. University of New South Wales Press: Sydney.

[M62] Marcus, L. F. 1962. A new species of Sthenurus (Marsupialia, Macropodidae) from the Pleistocene of New South Wales. Records of the Australian Museum 25 (14): 299–304.

[PW10] Prideaux, G. J., & N. M. Warburton. 2010. An osteology-based appraisal of the phylogeny and evolution of kangaroos and wallabies (Macropodidae: Marsupialia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 159 (4): 954–987.

Last updated: 21 August 2018.