Priscileo

Priscileo Temporal range: Oligocene–Early Miocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Diprotodontia
Family:	†Thylacoleonidae
Genus:	†Priscileo Rauscher, 1987
Paleospecies
Priscileo pitikantensis Priscileo roskellyae

Priscileo ("Ancient Lion") was the basal-most genus of Thylacoleonidae. Fossils of this genus have been found in Oligocene and Miocene strata of South Australia and Queensland. It was about the size of a possum and was less powerful than the other marsupial lions. The two species have crushing molar teeth (as in omnivorous kangaroos) as well as carnassial blades (large, flesh cutting teeth derived from the first lower molar and last upper molar). The Early Miocene species of P. roskellyae may have been an arboreal species.

Priscileo pitikantensis lived in Australia about 25 million years ago from the late Oligocene to middle Miocene and was approximately the size of a cat.

It is known only from a few post cranial bones found at Lake Pitakanta in northeastern south Australia and a poorly preserved maxillary fragment. To date P. pitikantensis is the oldest and most primitive of the Thylacoleonidae known.

References

Wildlife of Gondwana, By Patricia Vickers-Rich and Thomas Hewett Rich 1993 ISBN 0-7301-0315-3 Reed.

External links

• Priscileo species
• "Secrets of the Bones" - TIME
• "The Age of the Megafauna" - ABC
• "Wakaleo vanderleuri" - Australian Museum
• "Priscileo pitikantensis" - Conservation Library Database Search