Quinkana

Taxobox
name = "Quinkana"
fossil_range = Late Oligocene - Pleistocene


image_caption = "Quinkana fortirostrum"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Crocodilia
familia = Crocodylidae
subfamilia = Mekosuchinae
genus = "Quinkana"
genus_authority = Molnar, 1981
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "Q. fortirostrum" Molnar, 1981 (type)
* "Q. babarra" Willis & Mackness, 1996
* "Q. timara" Megirian, 1994
* "Q. meboldi" Willis, 1997

"Quinkana" is an extinct genus of mekosuchine crocodile that lived in Australia from ~24 million years ago to ~40,000 years ago. By the Pleistocene "Quinkana" had become on of the top terrestrial predators of Australia, possessing long legs and ziphodont teeth (lateromedially compressed, recurved and serrated). "Quinkana" comes from the "Quinkans", an legendary folk from Aboriginal myths.

Species

The species within "Quinkana" include: the type species "Q. fortirostrum" from Queensland of the Pliocene and Pleistocene, "Q. babarra" from Queensland of the Early Pliocene, "Q. timara" from the Northern Territory of the Middle Miocene, and "Q. meboldi" from Queensland of the Late Oligocene.

Appearance

The older species ("Q. meboldi" and "Q. timara") were small in size (about 2 meters) compared to the large Plio-Pleistocene species which evolved. "Quinkana fortirostrum" has been estimated to have exceeded 5 m in length, making it at the time one of Australia's largest predators, surpassed in size by the giant monitor lizard, "Megalania" ("Varanus priscus").

Closely related species

"Quinkana" is a genus within the subfamily Mekosuchinae. Other genera included in this family are: "Australosuchus", "Baru", "Kambara", "Mekosuchus", "Pallimnarchus" and "Trilophosuchus".

References

* Willis, P.M.A. & Mackness, B. (1996). "Quinkana babarra", a new species of ziphodont mekosuchine crocodile from the early Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna, Northern Australia, with a revision of the genus." "Proceedings and Journal of the Linnean Society of New South Wales" 116: 143-151

External links

* [http://www.lostkingdoms.com/facts/factsheet55.htm Australia's Lost Kingdoms]