Sthenurinae
Sthenurinae (from Sthenurus, Greek for 'strong-tailed') is a subfamily within the marsupial family Macropodidae, known as short-faced kangaroos or sthenurine kangaroos. No members of this subfamily are extant today, with all becoming extinct by the late Pleistocene. Procoptodon goliah, the largest macropodid known to have existed, was a sthenurine kangaroo, but sthenurines occurred in a range of sizes, with Procoptodon gilli being the smallest at the size of a small wallaby.
| Sthenurinae Temporal range: Pliocene - Pleistocene, | |
|---|---|
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| Simosthenurus occidentalis skeleton mounted at American Museum of Natural History | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | Macropodidae |
| Subfamily: | †Sthenurinae Glauert, 1926[1] |
| Genera | |
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The short, robust skull of sthenurines is considered to be indicative that they were browsers that fed on leaves. Some species may have been able to reach above their heads and grasp branches with their semiopposable paws to assist in procuring leaves from trees. A single hoofed digit is present on the feet of sthenurines.
Taxonomy
The subfamilial arrangement Sthenurinae was circumscribed by Ludwig Glauert in 1926.[1][2]
Locomotion
Unlike modern macropodids, which hop (either bipedally or quadrupedally), sthenurines seem to have abandoned saltation as a means of locomotion. Their comparatively inflexible spines, robust hindlimb and pelvic elements, and the lack of capacity for rapid hopping suggest that these animals walked bipedally, somewhat like hominids, even converging with those primates in details of their pelvic anatomy. Furthermore, their hooved single digits and metatarsal anatomy suggest that unlike their plantigrade relatives, sthenurines were digitigrade, walking on the tips of their "toes".[3]
References
- Glauert, L. (1926). "A List of Western Australian Fossils". Geological Survey of Western Australia Bulletin. 88: 38–71.
- Prideaux, G.J. (2004). Systematics and evolution of the sthenurine kangaroo. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09845-5.
- Janis, CM; Buttrill, K; Figueirido, B (2014). "Locomotion in Extinct Giant Kangaroos: Were Sthenurines Hop-Less Monsters?". PLOS ONE. 9 (10): e109888. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...9j9888J. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0109888. PMC 4198187. PMID 25333823.
Further reading
- Long, J., Archer, M., Flannery, T. and Hand, S. 2002. Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp 157–196. ISBN 0-8018-7223-5.
- Prideaux, G. 2004. "Systematics and Evolution of the Sthenurine Kangaroos". UC Publications in Geological Sciences. Paper vol 146.
- Wells, Roderick Tucker, and Richard H. Tedford. "Sthenurus (Macropodidae, Marsupialia) from the Pleistocene of Lake Callabonna, South Australia. Bulletin of the AMNH; no. 225." (1995).
