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 | |
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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 | |
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Historic pig-footed bandicoot range in orange |
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