Fanged kangaroos – an extinct family of small fanged Australian kangaroos – might have survived at least five million years longer than previously thought.
A University of Queensland-led study has found the species might have competed for resources with ancestors of modern kangaroos.
Research into species diversity, body size and the timing of extinction found that fanged kangaroos, previously thought to have become extinct about 15 million years ago, persisted to at least 10 million years ago.
The fanged kangaroos, including the species Balbaroo fangaroo, were about the size of a small wallaby.
UQ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences PhD student Kaylene Butler said the research involved Queensland Museum holdings of ancient fossil deposits from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, where kangaroo fossil evidence goes back as far as 25 million years.=read more
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