All three newly discovered species of kangaroos belong to the extinct genus Protemnodon that lived on the Australian continent approximately 5 million to 40,000 years ago.
Researchers in Southern Australia have uncovered fossils of three new species of giant ancient kangaroos.
The skeleton of Protemnodon is twice the size of the red kangaroo. (Photo: Flinders University)
In a study published on April 15, a research team from Flinders University (Australia) described these new kangaroo species based on their fossils found in Australia and Papua New Guinea. All three species belong to the extinct genus Protemnodon, also known as the giant kangaroo, which inhabited mainland Australia, Tasmania, and Papua New Guinea approximately 5 million to 40,000 years ago.
The lead author of the study, Isaac Kerr from the School of Science and Engineering at Flinders University, examined collections from 14 museums across four countries to study and 3D scan 800 specimens of the Protemnodon genus collected from various locations in Australia and Papua New Guinea to differentiate between the giant kangaroo species.
Kerr discovered that these kangaroo species had adapted to live in different environments and even jumped in various ways.
Among the studied species is Protemnodon viator, which weighed up to 170 kg, twice the size of other kangaroo species, and is the largest male red kangaroo still living in the wild in Australia.
Additionally, two other species, Protemnodon mamkurra and Protemnodon dawsonae, were identified during a review of studies from the 19th century.
According to Kerr, this research has disproven the previous hypothesis that all Protemnodon species had four legs. He added that the best fossil of Protemnodon mamkurra was discovered in the Green Waterhole cave in Southern Australia. The name mamkurra was chosen by Indigenous people, meaning “large kangaroo.”
