HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Ambulator'' is an extinct genus of
marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...
s belonging to the family Diprotodontidae. It contains one species, ''A. keanei'', whose remains were found in the
Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Tirari Formation of
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
. ''A. keanei'' was previously included in the genus '' Zygomaturus'', but was moved to the new genus ''Ambulator'' in 2023. Features of its limbs suggest that ''Ambulator'' was better adapted to quadrupedal walking than earlier diprotodontids.


References

Diprotodontids Prehistoric marsupial genera Pliocene marsupials Pliocene mammals of Australia Extinct mammals of South Australia Fossil taxa described in 2023 {{Paleo-marsupial-stub