Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

Kitten-sized extinct 'lion' found


seeder

Recommended Posts

Quote

 

Kitten-sized extinct 'lion' named after David Attenborough

A miniature marsupial lion, extinct for at least 18 million years, has been named after Sir David Attenborough after its fossilised remains were found in a remote part of Australia.

Teeth and bone fragments from the kitten-sized predator, named Microleo attenboroughi, were found in limestone deposits at the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil site in north-western Queensland.

The researchers named the new species after the British broadcasting legend because of his work promoting the famous fossil site, which provides a record of nearly 25 million years of Australia's natural history.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-37182388


 

 

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I love marsupials. And while the thylacoleonidae aren't as good as the thylacinidae, they're still brilliant. 

Full paper regarding Microleo here

http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2016/1490-new-marsupial-lion 

Something that isn't mentioned there is that while most of the known predators among the Australidelphids ( all Australian and one of the S American marsupials) are from Dasyuromophia (the group that includes Tasmanian devils, quolls  and thylacines etc). The thylacoleonids, though truly dedicated hypercarnivores, were members of the Diprontodontia. An almost entirely herbivorous group, including kangaroos, tree kangaroos, wallabies, possums, koalas and wombats. Specifically, they're Vombatiforms. The group whose living representatives are the koalas and wombats. 

In a 2005 study of living an extinct mammalian predators, which measured bite force relative to body size, the thylacoleonids came out on top. With the 2 KG Prisciloeo coming first. And with the biggest, Thylcacoleo carnifex, a close second. Which had an unadjusted bite strength coming close to a to that of a lion. 

Table here

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1564077/table/tbl1/

Full paper here

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1564077/

Two other recent finds at Riversleigh, 

http://www.nature.com/articles/srep26911

https://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/381441/137-150_MMV74_Archer_5_WEB.pdf

A couple of fails to note in the BBC article though. Firstly Thylacoleo carnifex was not the size of a lion, but significantly smaller. Nor did it become extinct 100,000 years ago. You'd want to bring that date forward by about 54,000 thousand years. Possibly putting it as a contemporary of the first Australians. 

 

Edited by oldrover
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It always fascinates me when they discover these cool critters.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

Named Microleo attenboroughi after legendary British naturalist Sir David Attenborough

It would have made more sense to call it "Dave"

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

6 minutes ago, Oniomancer said:

"Miniature marsupial lion?" Wouldn't that make it a marsupial cat?

That vernacular name's already taken I'm afraid. It's used for the quolls. Though, I'm not sure how commonly it's used these days. 

Edited by oldrover
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i was always wondered how it is possible that smaller animals wen t extinct in times there were no humans ..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, qxcontinuum said:

i was always wondered how it is possible that smaller animals wen t extinct in times there were no humans ..

Why do you find size significant? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, oldrover said:

Why do you find size significant? 

because size mattes... smaller animals don't become extinct just like that ! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
On 8/27/2016 at 9:59 AM, seeder said:

Microleo attenboroughi

Is it valid to use "leo" in the scientific name of a marspial? Does "leo" refer only to the African lions?

While it may be fine to refer to it as a lion in casual use, like "Tasmanian devil" (not actually a devil), scientific names should be chosen with rigor.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/4/2016 at 4:25 PM, Blizno said:

Is it valid to use "leo" in the scientific name of a marspial? Does "leo" refer only to the African lions?

While it may be fine to refer to it as a lion in casual use, like "Tasmanian devil" (not actually a devil), scientific names should be chosen with rigor.

Scientific names are often not very 'scientific' when translated. Take the fosa, Cryptoprocta ferox. Which means the 'the fierce hidden anus'. Or the huge land turtles of Pleistocene Australia named after the mutant ninja turtles.

Basically, they can say anything. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.