''Lekaneleo roskellyae'' is a fossil species of carnivorous marsupial that existed during the early Miocene in Australia. Once allied to the type species of the genus ''Priscileo'', later placed as ''

Wakaleo pitikantensis ''Wakaleo pitikantensis'' is a species of carnivorous marsupial that was discovered at fossil sites in South Australia. Taxonomy The description by Rauscher was published in 1987, naming a new species and genus as ''Priscileo pitikantensis''. ...

'', ''"Priscileo" roskellyae'' was subsequently transferred to its own genus ''Lekaneleo''.

Taxonomy

The species was described by

Anna Gillespie Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

in 1997, describing material excavated at the

Riversleigh World Heritage Area Riversleigh World Heritage Area is Australia's most famous fossil location, recognised for the series of well preserved fossils deposited from the Late Oligocene to more recent geological periods. The fossiliferous limestone system is located ne ...

that included a largely complete cranium and maxillary retaining some teeth and details of the alveoli. Examination of the new species included a revision of the previously monotypic genus, ''

Priscileo ''Wakaleo pitikantensis'' is a species of carnivorous marsupial that was discovered at fossil sites in South Australia. Taxonomy The description by Rauscher was published in 1987, naming a new species and genus as ''Priscileo pitikantensis''. ...

'', known only by fragmented remains of teeth and a partial

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...

. The discovery of a new species of Riversleigh fauna allowed the genus to be revised (Gillespie, et al, 2017) to include the type to be recognised in the new combination as ''

''. Subsequently Gillespie,

Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

Hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "h ...

(2020) moved ''"Priscileo" roskellyae'' to a distinct genus ''Lekaneleo'', arguing that it exhibits features supporting its generic distinction within Thylacoleonidae. The specific epithet honours

Ros Kelly Roslyn Joan Kelly AO (née Raw; born 25 January 1948) is a former member of the Australian House of Representatives, having represented the Division of Canberra from 18 October 1980 to 30 January 1995. She was a minister in the governments ...

, who provided support to research at Riversleigh when acting as a minister of the federal government.

Description

As one of two described species of ''

'', it is estimated to have been around two thirds the size of '' Priscileo pitikantensis''; the body mass of ''L. roskellyae'' is calculated as . The upper dental formula of this marsupial was I1–3 C1 P1–13 M 1–4. The premolar P3 is similar in form to the larger tooth in species of ''

Wakaleo ''Wakaleo'' (indigenous Australian ''waka'', "little", "small", and Latin ''leo'', "lion") was a genus of medium-sized thylacoleonids that lived in Australia in the Late Oligocene and Miocene Epochs. Although much smaller than its close relativ ...

'', the mid-sized

thylacoleonid Thylacoleonidae is a family of extinct meat-eating marsupials from Australia, referred to as marsupial lions. The best known is ''Thylacoleo carnifex'', also called the marsupial lion. The clade ranged from the Late Oligocene to the Pleistocene, ...

s that also existed at Riversleigh and seemed to occupied different ecological niches in the same time period. The comparative bite force of the species, along with the larger ''

Thylacoleo carnifex ''Thylacoleo'' ("pouch lion") is an extinct genus of carnivorous marsupials that lived in Australia from the late Pliocene to the late Pleistocene (2 million to 46 thousand years ago). Some of these marsupial lions were the largest mammalian pred ...

'', is estimated to have been the greatest of any known mammal and strongly supports the conception of predators that killed animals larger than itself. The conception of the larger species P. pitikantensis'', based on extrapolations from the limb morphology, is proposed to have been an arboreal ambush predator.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q12072116, from2=Q86559389 Prehistoric vombatiforms Oligocene mammals of Australia Miocene mammals of Australia Aquitanian life Burdigalian life Chattian life Riversleigh fauna Fossil taxa described in 2020 Prehistoric marsupial genera