Thylacinus

Thylacinus is a genus of extinct carnivorous marsupials in the family Thylacinidae. The only recent member was the thylacine, commonly also known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf. The last known Tasmanian tiger was in the Beaumaris Zoo in Tasmania, eventually dying in 1936. The earliest known member of the genus, Thylacinus macknessi appeared during the Early Miocene, around 16 million years ago, and was smaller than the modern thylacine, with a body mass of about 6.7–9.0 kilograms (14.8–19.8 lb). Thylacinus represented the only extant genus of the family after the beginning of the Pliocene around 5 million years ago. Over time members of the genus saw an increase in body mass and a greater adaption to hypercarnivory in their dental morphology.

Thylacinus

Douglass S. Rovinsky​, Alistair R. Evans, Justin W. Adams · CC BY 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
Also called
Tasmanian wolfPBDB
Sits inside
ThylacinidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thylacinidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 39 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 3 of 39 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 39 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 28 of 39 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 7 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 23 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

39 occurrences of Thylacinus 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

39 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

3 formations

Waite — 23.70°S, 133.88°EWipajiri — 27.75°S, 140.73°ED Clay — 35.70°S, 144.83°E

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The named rock units Thylacinus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 36 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Thylacinus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Thylacinus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

294 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 39 sites for Thylacinus, 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

26 references

Each of the 39 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. 14 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 content2

Picture of Thylacinus

Credit
Douglass S. Rovinsky​, Alistair R. Evans, Justin W. Adams
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itThylacinidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Temminck 1824