Euryzygoma Temporal range:
Pliocene
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Life reconstruction of Euryzygoma dunense | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
Order: | Diprotodontia |
Family: | † Diprotodontidae |
Genus: | †
Euryzygoma Longman, 1921 |
Species: | †E. dunense
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Binomial name | |
†Euryzygoma dunense
De Vis, 1888
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Euryzygoma is an extinct genus of marsupial which inhabited humid eucalyptus forests in Queensland and New South Wales during the Pliocene of Australia. [1] [2] Euryzygoma is believed to have weighed around 500 kg, [3] and differed from other diprotodonts in having unusual, flaring cheekbones that may have been used either for storing food or for sexual display. [4] Euryzygoma is thought to be the ancestral genus from which Diprotodon evolved. [5]