Illustration of a female Diprotodon with joey and sulphur-crested cockatoo
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Infraclass:
Marsupialia
Order:
Diprotodontia
Family:
†Diprotodontidae
Genus:
†Diprotodon
Type species
Diprotodon optatum
Owen, 1838
Synonyms[1]
D. australisOwen, 1844
D. annextansMcCoy, 1861
D. minorHuxley, 1862
D. longicepsMcCoy, 1865
D. bennettiiKrefft, 1873
D. loderiKrefft, 1873
D. optatusWoods, 1960
D. australeMolnar & Kurz, 1997
Diprotodon (Ancient Greek: "two protruding front teeth") is an extinct genus of marsupial from the Pleistocene of Australia containing one species, D. optatum. The earliest finds date to 1.77 million to 780,000 years ago but most specimens are dated to after 110,000 years ago. Its remains were first unearthed in 1830 in Wellington Caves, New South Wales, and contemporaneous paleontologists guessed they belonged to rhinos, elephants, hippos or dugongs. Diprotodon was formally described by English naturalist Richard Owen in 1838, and was the first named Australian fossil mammal, and led Owen to become the foremost authority of his time on other marsupials and Australian megafauna, which were enigmatic to European science.
Diprotodon is the largest-known marsupial to have ever lived, it greatly exceeds the size of its closest living relatives wombats and koalas. It is a member of the extinct family Diprotodontidae, which includes other large quadrupedal herbivores. It grew as large as 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) at the shoulders, over 4 m (13 ft) from head to tail, and possibly weighed almost 3,500 kg (7,700 lb). Females were much smaller than males. Diprotodon supported itself on elephant-like legs to travel long distances, and inhabited most of Australia. The digits were weak; most of the weight was probably borne on the wrists and ankles. The hindpaws angled inward at 130°. Its jaws may have produced a strong bite force of 2,300 newtons (520 pounds-force) at the long and ever-growing incisor teeth, and over 11,000 newtons (2,500 lbf) at the last molar. Such powerful jaws would have allowed it to eat vegetation in bulk, crunching and grinding plant materials such as twigs, buds and leaves of woody plants with its bilophodont teeth.
It is the only marsupial and metatherian that is known to have made seasonal migrations. Large herds, usually of females, seem to have marched through a wide range of habitats to find food and water, walking at around 6 km/h (3.7 mph). Diprotodon may have formed polygynous societies, possibly using its powerful incisors to fight for mates or fend off predators, such as the largest-known marsupial carnivore Thylacoleo carnifex. Being a marsupial, the mother may have raised her joey in a pouch on her belly, probably with one of these facing backwards, as in wombats.
Diprotodon went extinct about 40,000 years ago during the Quaternary extinction event, along with every other Australian animal over 100 kg (220 lb); the extinction was possibly caused by extreme drought conditions and predation pressure from the first Aboriginal Australians, who had co-existed with the megafauna for about 10,000–20,000 years. There is little direct evidence of interactions between Aboriginal Australians and Diprotodon—or any Pleistocene mammalian megafauna. Diprotodon has been conjectured by some authors to have been the origin of some aboriginal mythological figures—most notably the bunyip—and aboriginal rock artworks but these ideas are unconfirmable.
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Diprotodon (Ancient Greek: "two protruding front teeth") is an extinct genus of marsupial from the Pleistocene of Australia containing one species, D....
digging. Marsupials are arranged by size, with the largest at the top. Diprotodon optatum is not only the largest known species of diprotodontid, but also...
and many others. Extinct diprotodonts include the hippopotamus-sized Diprotodon, and Thylacoleo, the so-called "marsupial lion". Living diprotodonts are...
families are the Diprotodontidae, which includes the rhinoceros sized Diprotodon, believed to be the largest marsupials ever, as well as the "marsupial...
Giant wombat may refer to an extinct animal from the genera: Diprotodon (which is a diprotodontid and not a true wombat) Phascolonus Ramsayia Sedophascolomys...
notably including the largest marsupial that ever lived, the rhino-sized Diprotodon. Nimbadon, which is often considered a basal diprotodontid, was arboreal...
much larger than itself. Larger animals that were likely prey include Diprotodon spp. and giant kangaroos. It seems improbable that Thylacoleo could achieve...
than a "giant"; in contrast, a number of Australian megafauna, such as Diprotodon and Procoptodon, were unambiguously giants, even if not compared to their...
mammals, with herbivore forms including wombats and kangaroos, and the huge Diprotodon. Carnivorous marsupials continued hunting in the Pliocene, including dasyurids...
hypsodont molars and weighed around 500 kg. It was a relative of the larger Diprotodon and a distant kin to modern wombats. Nototherium inerme Owen, 1845 Nototherium...
Diprotodon went extinct about 40,000 years ago as part of the Quaternary extinction event, along with every other Australian creature over 100 kg (220 lb)...
koala as a marsupial in the 1840s, and compared it to fossil species Diprotodon and Nototherium, which had been discovered just recently.: 46–48 Similarly...
modern but with many more large land mammals such as Mammoths, Mastodons, Diprotodons, Smilodons, tigers, lions, Aurochs, short-faced bears, giant sloths,...
to large-sized animals, including any of the giant marsupials such as Diprotodon, along with other reptiles and small mammals, as well as birds and their...
suggesting that an unusual mechanism was at work. Moa (Dinornis pictured) Diprotodon optatum "Megalania" (Varanus priscus), Glyptodon Macrauchenia was the...
Genus †Meniscolophus Stirton 1955 Genus †Euryzygoma Longman 1921 Genus †Diprotodon Owen 1838 [Diarcodon Stephenson 1963] Genus †Euowenia de Vis 1891 [Owenia...
Australia, which were eventually reprinted in book-form in 1877. He described Diprotodon (1838) and Thylacoleo (1859), and extinct species kangaroos and wombats...
height and 90 kilograms (200 lb) in weight, but extinct genera, such as Diprotodon, were significantly larger and heavier. The smallest members of this group...
told, about 60 different vertebrates became extinct, including the genus Diprotodon (very large marsupial herbivores that looked rather like hippos), several...
may be a cultural memory of extinct Australian marsupials such as the Diprotodon, Zygomaturus, Nototherium, or Palorchestes. This connection was first...
prey items including Protemnodon, Macropus titan and other kangaroos, Diprotodon and Troposodon, though it is noted that it was likely rare in eastern...
contained many huge marsupials, including the largest to ever exist: Diprotodon. This rhino-sized herbivore would have reached more than 3.3 m (11 ft)...
in the Gallery of Paleontoloogy and Comparative Anatomy Skeleton of a Diprotodon This gallery is sited next to the Iris garden, which contains 260 varieties...
Pleistocene and early Holocene. Marsupials Various members of Diprotodontidae Diprotodon (largest known marsupial) Hulitherium tomasetti Maokopia ronaldi Zygomaturus...
camels may fill lost niches of extinct Australian megafauna including Diprotodon and Palorchestes, where this may also apply for others (such as cattles...
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