Macropus

Macropus is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has 13 extant species, which are divided into three subgenera. The genus includes four species of large terrestrial kangaroos, two species of wallaroos, and eight extant species of wallabies (a ninth species is extinct). The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, makros "long" and πους, pous "foot". Thirteen known extinct species are recognised. The type species is the eastern grey kangaroo.

Macropus[1]
Eastern grey kangaroo
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Diprotodontia
Family:	Macropodidae
Subfamily:	Macropodinae
Genus:	Macropus Shaw, 1790
Type species
Macropus giganteus Shaw, 1790
Species density of the genus Macropus

Taxonomy

• Genus Macropus
  • Subgenus unknown
    • † Macropus dryas
    • † Macropus gouldi
    • † Macropus narada
    • † Macropus piltonensis
    • † Macropus rama
    • † Macropus woodsi
  • Subgenus Notamacropus Dawson & Flannery, 1985[2]
    • Agile wallaby (Macropus agilis)
    • Dwarf wallaby (Macropus dorcopsulus)
    • Black-striped wallaby (Macropus dorsalis)
    • Tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii)
    • †Toolache wallaby (Macropus greyi) (extinct, lived in the southeastern region of South Australia and in Victoria)
    • Western brush wallaby (Macropus irma)
    • Parma wallaby (Macropus parma) (rediscovered, thought to have been extinct for 100 years)
    • Whiptail wallaby (Macropus parryi)
    • Red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus)
  • Subgenus Osphranter
    • Antilopine kangaroo (Macropus antilopinus)
    • Black wallaroo (Macropus bernardus)
    • Common wallaroo (Macropus robustus)
    • Red kangaroo (Macropus rufus)
    • †Macropus pavana
    • †Macropus thor
  • Subgenus Macropus Shaw, 1790
    • Western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus)
    • Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)
    • †Macropus ferragus
    • †Macropus mundjabus
    • †Macropus pan
    • †Macropus pearsoni
    • †Macropus titan (or †Macropus giganteus titan)

A currently-unnamed Pleistocene Macropus species from Australia was the largest kangaroo ever, with an estimated mass of around 274 kg (~604 lb).[3]

References

1. Groves, C. P. (2005). "Order Diprotodontia". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 63–66. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
2. Dawson, L.; Flannery, T. (1985). "Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Status of Living and Fossil Kangaroos and Wallabies of the Genus Macropus Shaw (Macropodidae: Marsupialia), with a New Subgeneric Name for the Larger Wallabies". Australian Journal of Zoology. 33 (4): 473–498. doi:10.1071/ZO9850473.
3. Hocknull, Scott A.; Lewis, Richard; Arnold, Lee J.; Pietsch, Tim; Joannes-Boyau, Renaud; Price, Gilbert J.; Moss, Patrick; Wood, Rachel; Dosseto, Anthony; Louys, Julien; Olley, Jon (2020-05-18). "Extinction of eastern Sahul megafauna coincides with sustained environmental deterioration". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 2250. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-15785-w. ISSN 2041-1723.

Further reading

• "Speare, R. and Thomas, A.D. (1988), Orphaned kangaroo and wallaby joeys as a potential zoonotic source of Salmonella spp.". Medical Journal of Australia. 148: 619-623. doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.1988.tb116333.x.