Macropodidae

Macropodidae is a family of marsupials that includes kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons, the quokka, and several other groups. These genera are allied to the suborder Macropodiformes, containing other macropods, and are native to the Australian continent, New Guinea and nearby islands. As of 2025 there are 63 recognised living species in this family.

Macropodidae

John Gould · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
kangarooPBDB
Sits inside
DiprotodontiaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
saltatorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 3 of 407 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 43 of 407 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 71 of 407 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 265 of 407 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 5 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 5 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 5 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 18 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 25 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 23 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 53 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 62 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 180 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

407 occurrences of Macropodidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

407 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

21 formations

Grange Burn — 37.73°S, 141.94°ED Clay — 35.70°S, 144.83°EOtibanda — 7.25°S, 146.50°EOtibanda — 7.21°N, 146.75°EOtibanda — 7.22°S, 146.75°EMoorna — 34.12°S, 141.65°ENelson Bay — 38.60°S, 141.58°EAllingham — 19.72°S, 145.60°EChinchilla Sand — 26.75°S, 150.63°EChinchilla Sand — 26.80°S, 150.68°EWhaler's Bluff — 38.36°S, 141.60°EMoorabool Viaduct Sand — 38.12°S, 144.28°ESystem B — 19.01°S, 138.67°ETirari — 28.38°S, 138.30°ETirari — 27.75°S, 140.73°EKatipiri — 28.38°S, 137.68°EKatipiri — 28.39°S, 138.32°ECarl Creek Limestone — 19.08°S, 138.72°EPort Campbell Limestone — 37.72°S, 141.93°EWyandotte — 18.77°S, 144.85°ELoxton — 34.15°S, 139.91°ENamba — 31.17°S, 140.23°EJemmys Point — 37.82°S, 148.13°ERowsley — 37.70°S, 144.45°EMoorna Sandstone — 34.13°S, 141.62°EEtadunna — 29.33°S, 137.50°E

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The named rock units Macropodidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 342 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Macropodidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Macropodidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

752 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 171 sites for Macropodidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

86 references

Each of the 407 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 74 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Macropodidae

Credit
John Gould
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Macropodidae indet. · FU:FU2792

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
JamesDo
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDiprotodontia through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1821