User:T.carnifex

{{User WPPa}}

{{Taxobox

| name = Marsupial 'Lion'

| image =Thylacoleo_skeleton_in_Naracoorte_Caves.jpg

| fossil_range = Pliocene–Pleistocene

| superregnum = Eukaryota

| regnum = Animalia

| subregnum = Eumetazoa

| superphylum = Deuterostomia

| phylum = Chordata

| subphylum = Vertebrata

| infraphylum = Gnathostomata

| superclassis = Tetrapoda

| classis = Mammalia

| subclassis = Theria

| infraclassis = Marsupialia

| ordo = Diprotodontia

| familia = Thylacoleonidae

| genus = Thylacoleo

| species = T. carnifex

| binomial = Thylacoleo carnifex

| binomial_authority = Owen, 1859

}}

The Marsupial ‘Lion’ (Thylacoleo carnifex, Owen, 1859) is a large extinct carnivorous marsupial that inhabited Australia from the late Pliocene to the late Pleistocene (1,600,000–40,000 years ago). The name "Thylacoleo carnifex" is derived from thylakos to mean "pouched," leo to mean "lion" and carnifex to mean "butcher," with Sir Richard Owen describing it as "the fellest and most destuctive of predatory beasts."Rich, P.V., van Tets, G.F., Knight, F. (1990) Kadimakara: Extinct Vertebrates of Australia, 2nd Edition, Princeton University Press, Princeton Thylacoleo carnifex is a species among what is known as the Australian megafauna.