Archerus

Extinct genus of marsupials

Archerus

Temporal range: Early to Middle Miocene

Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Mammalia
Infraclass:  | Marsupialia
Order:  | Diprotodontia
Family:  | Phalangeridae
Genus:  | †Archerus
Myers & Crosby, 2023
Type species
†Archerus johntoniae

Myers & Crosby, 2023

Species

* A. johntoniae

Archerus is a genus of extinct marsupials from Miocene Australia. It is known from jawbones and partial skulls from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in Queensland, dated to between 18 to 12 million years ago. These are sufficient to identify it as a phalangerid, perhaps more closely related to the brushtail possums than to the cuscuses, but with many distinctive skeletal features that make the latter relationship uncertain; it may have lived before the two branches of the living family diverged from one another. It is estimated to have weighed around 1.3 kg (2.9 lb), similar to the living scaly-tailed possum, and the shape of its teeth suggest that it had a similarly omnivorous diet.[1]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Myers, T.; Crosby, K. (March 2023). "A new Early–Middle Miocene phalangerid (Marsupialia: Phalangeridae) from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park, northwestern Queensland". Alcheringa. 47 (4): 522–533\. Bibcode:2023Alch...47..522M. doi:10.1080/03115518.2023.2185677.