Woodburnodon
Temporal range: Eocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Microbiotheria
Family: †Woodburnodontidae
Goin et al., 2007
Genus: †Woodburnodon
Goin et al., 2007
Species:
†W. casei
Binomial name
†Woodburnodon casei
Goin et al., 2007[1]

Woodburnodon is an extinct genus of microbiotherian marsupial whose fossils have been found on Seymour Island, Antarctica. It lived during the Eocene epoch.

Taxonomy

The genus is represented by single species, Woodburnodon casei, which was described in 2007 from fossils found on the Antarctic peninsula.[2] Woodburnodon is currently the only formally described species in the family Woodburnodontidae, although fossils of a unidentified Early Eocene woodburnodontids have also been found in Patagonia.[3]

Description

Woodburnodon was the largest known member of the order Microbiotheria. It was at least three or four times larger than the microbiotherid Pachybiotherium, which has been estimated at 215–312 g (7.6–11.0 oz).[2] This would put the size of Woodburnodon at around 1 kg (2.2 lb).

References

  1. ↑ "Woodburnodon". Fossilworks.
  2. 1 2 Goin, F. J.; Zimicz, N.; Reguero, M. A.; Santillana, S. N.; Marenssi, S. A.; Moly, J. J. (2007). "New marsupial (Mammalia) from the Eocene of Antarctica, and the origins and affinities of the Microbiotheria". Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina. 62 (4): 597–603. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  3. ↑ Goin, F. J.; Woodburne, M. O.; Zimicz, A. N.; Martin, G. M.; Chornogubsky, L. (16 October 2015). A Brief History of South American Metatherians: Evolutionary Contexts and Intercontinental Dispersals. Springer. p. 216. ISBN 978-94-017-7420-8.
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