Simosthenurus occidentalis
Simosthenurus, also referred to as the short-faced kangaroo, is an extinct genus of megafaunal macropods that existed in Australia during the Pleistocene. Analysis of Simosthenurus fossils has contributed to the finding that there are three lineages of macropods: Sthenurinae, Macropodinae, and Lagostrophinae. The genus Simosthenurus was among the sthenurines.

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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- Sits inside
- SimosthenurusPBDB
- Diet
- omnivorePBDB, for Marsupialia
- Life habit
- scansorialPBDB, for Marsupialia
- Motility
- actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
- Environment
- terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia
Time the record covers
At least 2.4 million years on record.
The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.
59 occurrences of Simosthenurus occidentalis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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
59 occurrences- Pliocene3%
- Pleistocene97%
- Holoceneunder 1%
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
1 formation
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The named rock units Simosthenurus occidentalis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 58 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.
Simosthenurus occidentalis and its relatives
PleistoceneWhere Simosthenurus occidentalis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.
Found in the same rock
207 taxa- Procoptodon browneorum20 sites
- Procoptodon gilli19 sites
- Simosthenurus maddocki17 sites
- Metasthenurus newtonae14 sites
- Sthenurus andersoni12 sites
- Thylacoleo carnifex10 sites
- Macropus goliah9 sites
- Thylacinus cynocephalus9 sites
- Mastacomys8 sites
- Cercartetus nanus7 sites
- Dasyurus viverrinus7 sites
- Macropus rufogriseus7 sites
- Perameles gunnii7 sites
- Pseudocheirus peregrinus7 sites
- Pseudomys7 sites
- Zygomaturus trilobus7 sites
- Bettongia6 sites
- Macropus (Macropus) giganteus6 sites
- Petaurus breviceps6 sites
- Phascolarctos cinereus6 sites
- Rattus6 sites
- Tiliqua6 sites
- Vombatus ursinus6 sites
- Antechinus flavipes5 sites
The Paleobiology Database records 59 sites for Simosthenurus occidentalis, 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
8 references- Systematics and evolution of the sthenurine kangaroos52
- Man and megafauna in Tasmania: closing the gap1
- Pleistocene fossil vertebrate sites of the South East region of South Australia II1
- Early Pleistocene mammals from the Nelson Baylocal fauna, Portland, Victoria, Australia1
- Palaeontological excavation and taphonomic investigation of the late Pleistocene fossil deposit in Grant Hall, Victoria Fossil Cave, Naracoorte, South Australia1
- In Situ Taphonomic Investigation of Pleistocene Large Mammal Bone Deposits from The Ossuaries, Victoria Fossil Cave, Naracoorte, South Australia1
- The upper fossil fauna of the Henschke fossil cave, Naracoorte, South Australia1
- The Spring Creek locality, southwestern Victoria, a late surviving megafaunal assemblage1
Each of the 59 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. 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 content2
Picture of Simosthenurus occidentalis
- Source
- Wikipedia/Commons
- Credit
- Jonathan Chen
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Commercial use
- the licence allows it
Structured light scan
- Source
- MorphoSource
- Licence
- In Copyright
- Commercial use
- cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
- Specimen
- Simosthenurus occidentalis · wam:60.10.2
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 itSimosthenurus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Glauert 1910