Fig. 141—Thylacinus major, Owen.
Hind part of mandible, outer side. Pleistocene. Queensland.
1/2 nat. size
Pleistocene Diprotodonts.—
Pleistocene remains of the diprotodont forms of this syndactylous group are Phascolomys (the Wombat), perhaps ranging as low as Upper Pliocene (P. pliocenus) ([Fig. 141]); Phascolonus (P. gigas) ([Fig. 142 A])[4], a large Wombat from Queensland and New South Wales and South Australia; the Giant Kangaroos, as Macropus titan (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia), Procoptodon goliah (Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria), Sthenurus atlas (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia), Palorchestes azael (Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland); also the great Diprotodon, the largest known marsupial, as large as, and rather taller than, a rhinoceros, found in almost every part of Australia, with an allied form referred to Nototherium occurring also in Tasmania (Figs. 143, 144, 145). Nototherium (Queensland, South Australia and Victoria), was a smaller animal than Diprotodon, with a shorter and broader skull and similar dentition. Remains of the extinct “Marsupial Lion,” Thylacoleo carnifex, an animal allied to the phalangers, have been found in Cave-deposits in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. Incised bones of other animals, which are believed to have been gnawed by Thylacoleo, have been found associated with its remains. Thylacoleo possessed a peculiar dentition, the first pair of incisors in the upper jaw being very large and trenchant, whilst the canine and two anterior premolars are small and functionless: the lower jaw has also a pair of large first incisors, behind which are two small premolars, and an enormous chisel-edged last premolar biting against a similar tooth in the upper jaw ([Fig. 146]).
[4] This genus was described by Owen in 1872 as a sub-genus of Phascolomys founded on some cheek-teeth; and subsequently, in 1884, the same author described some incisors under the name of Sceparnodon ramsayi, which are now known to belong to the same animal that bore the cheek-teeth.
Fig. 142—Mandible of Phascolomys pliocenus, McCoy.
(?) Upper Pliocene (“Gold Cement.”) Dunolly, Vict.
About 1/2 nat. size.
(After McCoy).