Thylacinus yorkellus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Thylacinus yorkellus |
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Thylacinus yorkellus was an ancient meat-eating marsupial. It was a close relative of the Tasmanian tiger (also known as Thylacinus cynocephalus), which is now extinct. Both of these animals lived in mainland Australia a long time ago.
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What is Thylacinus yorkellus?
How it was Discovered and Named
Scientists officially named Thylacinus yorkellus in 2015. A paleontologist named Adam Yates described it after studying a fossil jawbone. This jawbone was found at the Curramulka fossil site in South Australia.
Another scientist, Neville Pledge, had looked at this same jawbone in 1992. He thought it might belong to a new species back then.
What Does the Name Mean?
The name "yorkellus" comes from two parts. "Yorke" refers to the Yorke Peninsula in Australia, where the fossil was found. "Ellus" is a Latin word part that means "small." This name was chosen because Thylacinus yorkellus was smaller than its famous cousin, the Tasmanian tiger.
What Did it Look Like?
Thylacinus yorkellus was a relatively small type of Thylacinus. It lived during the late Miocene epoch, which was millions of years ago. Some scientists think it might have also lived into the later Pliocene epoch.
The Fossil Evidence
The main fossil we have of this animal is a jawbone. This jawbone still has three premolar teeth, two of its four molar teeth, and a canine tooth. It also has empty spaces where other teeth, like the incisors and a second molar, used to be. The jawbone was broken at the third molar, so we don't have the fourth one.
How Big Was It?
Scientists have estimated the weight of two Thylacinus yorkellus specimens. They used special math methods based on other marsupial data. The estimated weights were about 17.8 kilograms (around 39 pounds) and 15.9 kilograms (around 35 pounds).
To give you an idea of its size, the average Tasmanian tiger weighed more, about 30 kilograms (66 pounds). Thylacinus yorkellus was also much smaller than other ancient Thylacinus species. For example, Thylacinus potens and Thylacinus megiriani were much larger, weighing between 38.7 and 57.3 kilograms (85 to 126 pounds).
