Chaeropus

Chaeropus, known as the pig-footed bandicoots, is a genus of small marsupials that became extinct during the 20th century. They were the only members of the family Chaeropodidae in order Peramelemorphia (bandicoots and bilbies), with unusually thin legs, yet were able to move rapidly. Two recognised species inhabited dense vegetation on the arid and semiarid plains of Australia. The genus' distribution range was later reduced to an inland desert region, where it was last recorded in the 1950s; it is now presumed extinct.

Pig-footed bandicoot
Temporal range: Late Pliocene or
C. yirratji specimen, Grande galerie de l'évolution
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Peramelemorphia
Family: Chaeropodidae
Gill, 1872
Genus: Chaeropus
Ogilby, 1838
Type species
Perameles ecaudatus
Ogilby, 1838
Species
Historic pig-footed bandicoot range in orange
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