Potorous

Potoroo is a common name for species of Potorous, a genus of smaller marsupials. They are allied to the Macropodiformes, the suborder of kangaroo, wallaby, and other rat-kangaroo genera and is the only genus in the tribe Potoroini. All three extant species are threatened by ecological changes since the colonisation of Australia, especially the long-footed potoroo Potorous longipes (endangered) and P. gilbertii. The broad-faced potoroo P. platyops disappeared after its first description in the 19th century. The main threats are predation by introduced species and habitat loss.

Potorous

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
potorooPBDB
Sits inside
PotoroidaePBDB
Diet
herbivore, insectivorePBDB, for Potoroidae
Life habit
saltatorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 28 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 28 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 25 of 28 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 2 of 28 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

28 occurrences of Potorous 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

28 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

1 formation

Moorna — 34.12°S, 141.65°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Potorous has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 27 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Potorous and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Potorous and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

301 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 21 sites for Potorous, 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

16 references

Each of the 28 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. 4 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 Potorous

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

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Potorous tridactylus · ummz:mammals:113314

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 itPotoroidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Desmarest 1804