Macropus
Macropus, from the Ancient Greek words μάκρος (mákros), meaning "long", and πους (pous), meaning "foot", is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has two extant species of large terrestrial kangaroos. Thirteen known extinct species are recognised. The type species is the eastern grey kangaroo.
Taxonomy
In 2019, a reassessment of macropod taxonomy determined that Osphranter and Notamacropus, formerly considered subgenera, should be moved to the genus level. This change was accepted by the Australian Faunal Directory in 2020.
Extant Species
Fossils
A currently-unnamed Pleistocene Macropus species from Australia was the largest kangaroo ever, with an estimated mass of around 274 kg (~604 lb).
- †Macropus dryas
- †Macropus gouldi
- †Macropus narada
- †Macropus piltonensis
- †Macropus rama
- †Macropus woodsi
- †Macropus pavana
- †Macropus thor
- †Macropus ferragus
- †Macropus mundjabus
- †Macropus pan
- †Macropus pearsoni
- †Macropus titan (or †Macropus giganteus titan)
References
Further reading
- Speare, R.; Thomas, A. D. (June 1988). "Speare, R. and Thomas, A.D. (1988), Orphaned kangaroo and wallaby joeys as a potential zoonotic source of Salmonella spp." Medical Journal of Australia. 148: 619–623. doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.1988.tb116333.x. S2CID 23290403.
External links
- "Macropus Shaw, 1790". Atlas of Living Australia.