Sarcophilus

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Sarcophilus
The Tasmanian Devil is the only living species from Sarcophilus
The Tasmanian Devil is the only living species from Sarcophilus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Family: Dasyuridae
Subfamily: Dasyurinae
Tribe: Dasyurini
Genus: Sarcophilus
F.G. Cuvier, 1837
Type species
Sarcophilus laniarius
Owen, 1838
Species

Sarcophilus is a genus of carnivorous marsupial best known for it's only living member the Tasmanian Devil.

There are three species of Sarcophilus, S. laniarius andS. moornaensis are only known from fossils from the Pleistocene. S. laniarius was about larger than the contemporary species S. harrisii, weighing up to 10 kilograms more. The relationship between the three species is unclear, while some have proposed that S. harrisii may be a dwarf version of S. laniarius, others argue that it is a completely different species and that the two may have coexisted during the Pleistocene.

[edit] Reference

  • Long, J., Archer, M., Flannery, T. and Hand, S. 2002. Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. John Hopkins University Press. pp 55. ISBN 0801872235.
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