Badjcinus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of marsupials}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Late Oligocene, {{Fossil range|28|23}} | image = Badjcinus turnbulli.png | image_caption = Referred specimen of ''B. turnbulli'' | taxon = Badjcinus | authority = Muirhead & Wroe, 1998 | type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Badjcinus turnbulli''''' | type_species_authority = Muirhead & Wroe, 1998 | subdivision_ranks = Other species | subdivision = * {{extinct}}'''''B. timfaulkneri''''' <small>Churchill, Archer & Hand, 2024</small><ref name="Churchill2024">{{cite journal |last1=Churchill |first1=T. J. |last2=Archer |first2=M. |last3=Hand |first3=S. J. |title=Three new thylacinids (Marsupialia, Thylacinidae) from late Oligocene deposits of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |date=2024 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2024.2384595|doi-access=free }}</ref> }}

'''''Badjcinus''''' is an extinct thylacinid marsupial.<ref name=Muirhead/> It is the earliest and most primitive known thylacinid, living 23 to 28 million years ago in the late Oligocene.<ref name=Muirhead>{{cite journal | url=https://www.academia.edu/245436 | title=A New Genus and Species, Badjcinus turnbulli (Thylacinidae: Marsupialia), from the LateOligocene of Riversleigh, Northern Australia, and an Investigation of Thylacinid Phylogeny |author1=Muirhead, Jeanette |author2=Wroe, Stephen | journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |date=September 1998 | volume=18 | issue=3 | pages=612–626 | doi=10.1080/02724634.1998.10011088| bibcode=1998JVPal..18..612M }}</ref>

The generic name combines the Wanyi Aboriginal language "badj", 'expert hunter', and a word from Ancient Greek "kynos", meaning 'dog', from which the Thylacinidae name was originally derived. The specific epithet was proposed by the authors to honour the contributions of William D. Turnbull to palaeontology.<ref name=Muirhead/>

''Badjcinus'' was quite small, averaging {{convert|5.2|lb|kg}} in weight. It was a carnivore, probably eating small vertebrates and insects, as living ''Dasyurus'' species do today. The fossils were found at Riversleigh in north-west Queensland, Australia. Since other animals at Riversleigh were rainforest species, it is possible that ''B. turnbulli'' was arboreal, like ''Dasyurus maculatus''.<ref name=Muirhead/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Prehistoric thylacines Category:Oligocene mammals of Australia Category:Oligocene marsupials Category:Prehistoric marsupial genera Category:Riversleigh fauna Category:Fossil taxa described in 1998