Wallaroo /wɒləˈruː/ is a common name for several species of moderately large macropods, intermediate in size between the kangaroos and the wallabies, that are native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. The word "wallaroo" is from the Dharug walaru with spelling influenced by the words "kangaroo" and "wallaby".
Wallaroos are typically distinct species from kangaroos and wallabies. An exception is the antilopine wallaroo, which is commonly known as an antilopine kangaroo when large, an antilopine wallaby when small, or an antilopine wallaroo when of intermediate size.
Wallaroo may refer to one of several species in the genus Osphranter:
The common wallaroo was used for the name and cap emblem of Wallaroo FC, Australia's first rugby union football club founded in Sydney in 1870. The Australian national women's rugby union team was in 1994 named 'The Wallaroos'.
The famous 1770 kangaroo sketches drawn by botanical illustrator Sydney Parkinson during Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks' HMS Endeavour voyage were determined to be an eastern wallaroo (O. r. robustus) following a 1970 study by Australian zoologist Geoffrey Sharman. The 1772 oil paintingThe Kongouro from New Holland by George Stubbs appears to be based on the Parkinson drawings.
The port town of Wallaroo at Wallaroo Bay in South Australia shares the same spelling, but derives its name independently from a local Narungga Aboriginal phrase and not the marsupial. The Royal Navy cruiser HMS Wallaroo (1890) and the Royal Australian Navy corvette HMAS Wallaroo (1942) were named after the town.
The dictionary definition of wallaroo at Wiktionary
Media related to Macropus robustus at Wikimedia Commons