''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''.
The designation as the type species of the genus ''
Priscileo'' was later recognised as a species of a revised description of ''
Wakaleo''.
Fossil material examined by Rauscher was obtained at Lake Pitikanta, situated to the east of
Lake Eyre.
Description
The smallest known species of ''Wakaleo'', it lived in Australia about 25 million years ago, from the late
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
to middle
Miocene, and was approximately the size of a cat.
They were mid-sized predators who probably hunted in trees or ambushed prey from a branch.
Like the later discovery, ''
Wakaleo schouteni'', the species possesses three premolars and four molars which distinguishes them from others of the genus. A little smaller than ''W. schouteni'', this species also differs in the morphology of the humerus.
It is known only from a few post cranial bones and a poorly preserved maxillary fragment found at the Lake Pitikanta site of the
Lake Ngapakaldi to Lake Palankarinna Fossil Area
__NOTOC__
The Lake Ngapakaldi to Lake Palankarinna Fossil Area is a group of fossil sites located in the Australian state of South Australia within the Tirari Desert in the north-eastern part of the state's Far North region. The group has a ...
in northeastern South Australia. To date ''W. pitikantensis'', ''Wakaleo schouteni'' and ''"Priscileo' roskellyae'' are the most ancient phylogenies of the Thylacoleonidae and presumed to have diverged during the early to middle Oligocene epoch.
References
External links
Natural Worlds
Wakaleo
Species described in 1987
Carnivorous marsupials
Prehistoric mammals of Australia
Pleistocene mammals
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