Badjcinus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of marsupials}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Late Oligocene, {{Fossil range|28|23}}

| image = Badjcinus turnbulli.png

| image_caption = Referred specimen of B. turnbulli

| taxon = Badjcinus

| authority = Muirhead & Wroe, 1998

| type_species = {{extinct}}Badjcinus turnbulli

| type_species_authority = Muirhead & Wroe, 1998

| subdivision_ranks = Other species

| subdivision =

• {{extinct}}B. timfaulkneri Churchill, Archer & Hand, 2024{{cite journal |last1=Churchill |first1=T. J. |last2=Archer |first2=M. |last3=Hand |first3=S. J. |title=Three new thylacinids (Marsupialia, Thylacinidae) from late Oligocene deposits of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |date=2024 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2024.2384595|doi-access=free }}

}}

Badjcinus is an extinct thylacinid marsupial.Muirhead and Wroe, 1998. It is the earliest and most primitive known thylacinid, living 23 to 28 million years ago in the late Oligocene.

The generic name combines the Wanyi Aboriginal language "badj", 'expert hunter', and a word from Ancient Greek "kynos", meaning 'dog', from which the Thylacinidae name was originally derived. The specific epithet was proposed by the authors to honour the contributions of William D. Turnbull to palaeontology.

Badjcinus was quite small, averaging {{convert|5.2|lb|kg}} in weight. It was a carnivore, probably eating small vertebrates and insects, as living Dasyurus species do today. The fossils were found at Riversleigh in north-west Queensland, Australia. Since other animals at Riversleigh were rainforest species, it is possible that B. turnbulli was arboreal, like Dasyurus maculatus.