A 170 kg prehistoric kangaroo identified in Australia

He examined fossils to arrive at this new classification of the Protemnodon, a genus of extinct kangaroo that lived in Australia and New Guinea five million years ago and up to twelve thousand years before present. For five years, Isaac Kerr, a young doctor in paleontology from Flinders University (Adelaide, Australia), photographed and 3D scanned more than 800 fossils scattered in the reserves of museums and universities in four countries. Identified one hundred and fifty years ago, the Protemnodon he particularity of a renewed interest thanks to the discovery of new fossils between 2013 and 2019, including this specimen, almost complete. baptized Viator Protemnodon, this species was much larger than the others. Weighing up to 170 kilograms, about twice as much as the largest living marsupial, the red kangaroo, it could jump quite quickly and efficiently using its limbs. Other species of Protemnodon master on all fours. More than an article, it is a sum of 261 pages that Isaac Kerr published on April 14 in Megataxa.