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diprotodon
Aug. 14th, 2015 07:44 amdiprotodon (dai-PROH-TOH-don) - n., any member of the extinct marsupial genus Diprotodon similar to a wombat in appearance but the size of a large hippopotamus.
Or maybe even a small elephant. And you thought current wombats are tanks. This is left over from my Pleistocene megafauna week, this one from Australia rather than the Americas. This is the largest marsupial ever recorded -- about 2800 kg when full-grown. The closest living relatives are wombats and koalas. The name was coined from Greek roots meaning two (di-) front (proto-, literally first) teeth (don(t)), because the the second incisors and canines are much smaller than the first incisors.
---L.
Or maybe even a small elephant. And you thought current wombats are tanks. This is left over from my Pleistocene megafauna week, this one from Australia rather than the Americas. This is the largest marsupial ever recorded -- about 2800 kg when full-grown. The closest living relatives are wombats and koalas. The name was coined from Greek roots meaning two (di-) front (proto-, literally first) teeth (don(t)), because the the second incisors and canines are much smaller than the first incisors.
---L.
