''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 ''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 ...

''. Fossil material examined by Rauscher was obtained at Lake Pitikanta, situated to the east of

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains th ...

Description

The smallest known species of ''Wakaleo'', it lived in Australia about 25 million years ago, from the late Oligocene to middle

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

, 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 in northeastern South Australia. To date ''W. pitikantensis'', ''Wakaleo schouteni'' and ''"Priscileo' roskellyae'' are the most ancient phylogenies of the

Thylacoleonidae 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 Pleistoc ...

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 {{paleo-marsupial-stub