''Macropus'' is a

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

in the family

Macropodidae Macropodidae is a family of marsupials that includes kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons, quokkas, and several other groups. These genera are allied to the suborder Macropodiformes, containing other macropods, and ar ...

. It has two extant species of large terrestrial

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

s. The term is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

μάκρος, ''makros'' "long" and πους, ''pous'' "foot". Thirteen known extinct species are recognised. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

is the eastern grey kangaroo.

Taxonomy

In 2019, a reassessment of macropod taxonomy determined that ''

Osphranter ''Osphranter'' is a genus of large marsupials in the family Macropodidae, commonly known as kangaroos and wallaroos (among other species). It contains the largest extant marsupial, the red kangaroo (''O. rufus''). In 2019, a reassessment of mac ...

'' and ''

Notamacropus ''Notamacropus'' is a genus of small marsupials in the family Macropodidae, commonly known as wallabies (among other species). In 2019, a reassessment of macropod taxonomy determined that ''Notamacropus'' and ''Osphranter'', formerly considered ...

'', formerly considered subgenera, should be moved to the genus level. This change was accepted by the

Australian Faunal Directory The Australian Faunal Directory (AFD) is an online catalogue of taxonomic and biological information on all animal species known to occur within Australia. It is a program of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water ...

in 2020.

Extant Species

Fossils

A currently-unnamed

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

''Macropus'' species from Australia was the largest kangaroo ever, with an estimated mass of around 274 kg (~604 lb). * †''

Macropus dryas ''Macropus'' is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has two extant species of large terrestrial kangaroos. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, ''makros'' "long" and πους, ''pous'' "foot". Thirteen known exti ...

'' * †''

Macropus gouldi ''Macropus'' is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has two extant species of large terrestrial kangaroos. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, ''makros'' "long" and πους, ''pous'' "foot". Thirteen known exti ...

'' * †''

Macropus narada ''Macropus'' is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has two extant species of large terrestrial kangaroos. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, ''makros'' "long" and πους, ''pous'' "foot". Thirteen known exti ...

'' * †''

Macropus piltonensis ''Macropus'' is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has two extant species of large terrestrial kangaroos. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, ''makros'' "long" and πους, ''pous'' "foot". Thirteen known exti ...

'' * †''

Macropus rama ''Macropus'' is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has two extant species of large terrestrial kangaroos. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, ''makros'' "long" and πους, ''pous'' "foot". Thirteen known exti ...

'' * †''

Macropus woodsi ''Macropus'' is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has two extant species of large terrestrial kangaroos. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, ''makros'' "long" and πους, ''pous'' "foot". Thirteen known exti ...

'' * †''

Macropus pavana ''Macropus'' is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has two extant species of large terrestrial kangaroos. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, ''makros'' "long" and πους, ''pous'' "foot". Thirteen known exti ...

'' * †''

Macropus thor ''Macropus'' is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has two extant species of large terrestrial kangaroos. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, ''makros'' "long" and πους, ''pous'' "foot". Thirteen known exti ...

'' * †'' Macropus ferragus'' * †''

Macropus mundjabus ''Macropus mundjabus'' is an extinct species of kangaroo found from a single location near Morwell, Victoria. It was first described by Tim Flannery in 1980, using the particular form of the foot bones to suggest that it may have inhabited rock ...

'' * †''

Macropus pan ''Macropus pan'' is a species of marsupial that existed during the Pliocene in Australia, known only from fossils located at several sites across Australia. The species is recognised as allied to the modern grey kangaroos, the western ''Macropus ...

'' * †''

Macropus pearsoni ''Macropus pearsoni'' is an extinct Australian vertebrate species belonging to the family Macropodidae, and is in the same genus ('' Macropus'') as extant kangaroos. ''M. pearsoni'' lived during the Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often r ...

'' * †'' Macropus titan'' (or †''Macropus giganteus titan'')

Taxonomy

Extant Species

Fossils

References

Further reading