''Protemnodon'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

megafauna In zoology, megafauna (from Ancient Greek, Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and Neo-Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common threshold is approximately , this lower en ...

l macropodids that existed in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

in the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

. Members of this genus are also called giant

kangaroos Kangaroos are 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 grey ...

. Protemnodon tumbuna

Taxonomy

Recent analysis of

mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ...

extracted from fossils indicates that ''Protemnodon'' was closely related to '' Macropus''. The species formerly known as ''Protemnodon bandharr'' and ''Protemnodon buloloensis'' have been moved to a new genus, '' Silvaroo,'' while the New Guinean species ''P. nombe'' has been moved to the new genus '' Nombe.'' A 2024 review of the genus recognized seven valid species, including three new ones: * ''P. anak'' Owen, 1874 (

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

) * ''P. otibandus'' Plane, 1967 * ''P. snewini'' Bartholomai, 1978 * ''P. tumbuna'' Flannery ''et al.'', 1983 * ''P. mamkurra'' Kerr ''et al.'', 2024 * ''P. viator'' Kerr ''et al.'', 2024 * ''P. dawsonae'' Kerr ''et al.'', 2024 ''P. chinchillaensis'' and ''P. hopei'' were considered junior synonyms of ''P. otibandus'' and ''P. tumbuna'' respectively. ''P. brehus'', ''P. roechus'', ''P. mimas'', ''P. antaeus'', and ''P. devisi'' were considered ''

nomina dubia In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium,'' it may be impossible to determine whether a ...

''.

Description

Based on

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

evidence, ''Protemnodon'' is thought to have been physically similar to

wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

, but generally larger and more robust. ''Protemnodon roechus'' was the largest in the genus, weighing around 170 kg. Some studies show that ''Protemnodon'' species ranged from efficient hoppers of dry open habitats (such as ''P. viator'') to slower, more quadrupedal forest dwellers (like ''P. tumbuna''), while others have found that even species such as ''P. viator'' were very inefficient hoppers and primarily quadrupedal. The shape and articulation of the forelimbs suggests that they may have been adept at digging, while the claws on their hind feet had a curved shape, perhaps to help stabilise the animal on uneven ground. Several species of ''Protemnodon'' survived up until around 50,000 years ago. ''P. tumbuna'' may have survived in the highlands of Papua New Guinea as recently as 12,000 years B.P.

References

Prehistoric macropods Pliocene mammals of Australia Pleistocene mammals of Australia Pliocene marsupials Pleistocene marsupials Prehistoric marsupial genera Taxa named by Richard Owen Fossil taxa described in 1874 {{Diprotodont-stub