Palaeontologists have described three unusual new species of giant fossil kangaroo from Australia and New Guinea, finding them more diverse in shape, range and hopping method than previously thought.
The three new species are of the extinct genus Protemnodon, which lived from around 5 million to 40,000 years ago -- with one about double the size of the largest red kangaroo living today.
Dr Kerr says the best fossils of this species come from Green Waterhole Cave in southeastern South Australia, on the land of the Boandik people. The species name, mamkurra, was chosen by Boandik elders and language experts in the Burrandies Corporation. It means 'great kangaroo'. To gather data for the study, Dr Kerr visited the collections of 14 museums in four countries and studied"just about every piece of"We photographed and 3D-scanned over 800 specimens collected from all over Australia and New Guinea, taking measurements, comparing and describing them. It was quite the undertaking.
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