Systematics and Evolution of the Sthenurine Kangaroos

Download or read book Systematics and Evolution of the Sthenurine Kangaroos written by Gavin Prideaux and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2004-05 with total page 647 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The subfamily Sthenurinae (Macropodoidea, Diprotodontia) is an extinct group of robust kangaroos. The earliest sthenurine appears in the late Miocene of central Australia, but the group is most common in the Pleistocene faunas of southern and eastern Australia. Since the Sthenurinae was last reviewed over three decades ago, species diversity has more than doubled. Many species are now also represented by series of well-preserved specimens, including complete crania and skeletons. New insights generated by these discoveries provided the major impetus for this review of sthenurine systematics, functional morphology, paleoecology, biochronology and zoogeography.