Joculusium muizoni is a fossil species discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area. Little is known about the animal.
| Joculusium | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
| Genus: | †Joculusium |
| Species: | †J. muizoni
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Joculusium muizoni | |
Taxonomy
editThe species describes a fossilised specimen of an unknown family, but allied to the order Dasyuromorphia with reasonable confidence by the author Stephen Wroe.[1][2] The holotype and only sole known specimen is a lower jaw bone. The epithet of the species muizoni honours the palaeontologist Christian de Muizon and its new genus Joculusium was named in reference to the type locality.[2]
Description
editJoculusium muizoni is a fossil species of dasyuromorph, an order of marsupials represented in the modern Australian fauna by the quolls (Dasyuridae), Tasmanian devil and recently extinct thylacine (Thylacinidae).[2] When discovered, the specimen exhibited the least derived characteristics of the known species of the order that was found in dasyurid and thylacinid families.[1] The only specimen is a jaw bone of a carnivore that probably ate smaller vertebrate species or insects.[2]
Distribution
editThe type locality is middle Miocene (Faunal Zone C, circa 14 myr) at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, which at that time was a wetter environment dominated by rainforest.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c Wroe, S. (2011). "A new genus and species of dasyuromorphian from the Miocene of Riversleigh, Northern Australia" (PDF). Memoirs of the Australian Association of Palaeontologists. 25: 53–59.
- ^ a b c d e "Joculusium muizoni ". Riversleigh News and Faunal Encyclopedia. wakaleo.net. Retrieved 28 May 2019.