Simosthenurus occidentalis (Glauert, 1910:31)
Giant short-faced kangaroo, Western sthenurine kangaroo (proposed)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Sthenurus occidentalis Glauert, 1910:31; Simosthenurus orientalis Tedford, 1966
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: Late Pleistocene
Subfossil remains of this species from a 33-27,000 year old layer have been uncovered from Tight Entrance Cave, southwestern Australia (Prideaux, 2007:17). However these may have been worked from older sedimentological levels, and further analysis is need to resolve their true age. The species may have only persisted until c.50ka, or even older.
Distribution
Australia (including Tasmania)
Anatomy & Morphology
It weighed an estimated 50kg (Johnson & Prideaux, 2004:557) or 118kg (Johnson, 2006:19) or a mean 118 ± 14.3 (n=5, range 97–136kg) (Helgen et al., 2006).
Biology & Ecology
It was a browser (Johnson, 2006:19).
Hypodigm
SAM P17259 (Helgen et al., 2006:303)
SAM P18298 (Helgen et al., 2006:303)
SAM P17282 (Helgen et al., 2006:303)
SAM P17474 (Helgen et al., 2006:303)
SAM P17301 (Helgen et al., 2006:303)
SAM P20820 (Helgen et al., 2006:303)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Glauert, Ludwig. (1910a). The Mammoth cave. Records of the Western Australian Museum and Art Gallery 1(1): 11-36.
Other references:
Adnams-Hodges, W. A. J. (1988). A partial reconstruction of the musculature and habits of an extinct browsing kangaroo (Sthenurus occidentalis). Unpublished. B.Sc. (Hons) Thesis, Flinders University of South Australia.
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ftp://rock.geosociety.org/pub/reposit/2007/2007016.pdf
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/19822/simosthenurus-occidentalis