{{Short description|Extinct family of marsupials}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Late Oligocene - Holocene {{fossilrange|28|0.00008}} | image = Thylacinus.jpg | image_caption = Thylacine | image2 = Thylacinidae.png | image2_caption = Non-''Thylacinus'' thylacinids, including ''Nimbacinus'' (top right) | taxon = Thylacinidae | authority = C.L. Bonaparte, 1838 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = *''Badjcinus'' *''Maximucinus'' *''Muribacinus'' *''Mutpuracinus''? *''Ngamalacinus'' *''Nimbacinus'' *''Thylacinus'' *''Tyarrpecinus'' *''Wabulacinus'' }}
'''Thylacinidae''' is an extinct family of carnivorous marsupials from the order Dasyuromorphia. The only species to survive into modern times was the thylacine (''Thylacinus cynocephalus''), which became extinct in 1936.
The consensus of authors prior to 1982 was that the thylacinid family were related to the Borhyaenidae, a group of South American predators, also extinct, that exhibited many similar characteristics of dentition. A review published in 1982 compared the skeletal structure of these groups, concluding the tarsal bones show greater affinity with the dasyurmorphs, strongly supporting the later theory that any dental similarities emerged independently via convergent evolution.<ref name="Long2002">{{cite book |last1=Long |first1=J.A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LwMkO0M1mPQC&pg=PA60 |title=Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution |last2=Archer |first2=M. |date=2002 |publisher=UNSW Press |isbn=978-0-86840-435-6 |page=60 |language=en}}</ref> Thylacinidae is currently considered to be sister to all other lineages within Dasyuromorpha, and is estimated to have split from other dasyuromorphs around 42-36 million years ago.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Rovinsky |first1=Douglass S. |last2=Evans |first2=Alistair R. |last3=Adams |first3=Justin W. |date=2019-09-02 |title=The pre-Pleistocene fossil thylacinids (Dasyuromorphia: Thylacinidae) and the evolutionary context of the modern thylacine |journal=PeerJ |language=en |volume=7 |article-number=e7457 |doi=10.7717/peerj.7457 |issn=2167-8359|doi-access=free |pmid=31534836 |pmc=6727838 }}</ref>
The earliest thylacinid, ''Badjcinus'' from the Late Oligocene around 28 million years ago, is estimated to have been around {{Convert|1.7 to 3.1|kg|lb}} in weight, comparable to a living tiger quoll.<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 |volume=44 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2024.2384595|doi-access=free |bibcode=2024JVPal..44E4595C }}</ref> Early thylacinids were unspecialised faunivores. The family exhibited its greatest diversity during the Miocene epoch, when there were several separate lineages of contemporaneous thylacinids, most of which were considerably smaller than the living thylacine. The genus ''Thylacinus'' emerged during the Early Miocene around 16 million years ago, and after the beginning of the Pliocene was the only living thylacinid genus. Over time members of the genus ''Thylacinus'' showed an increase in body and increased adaptation to hypercarnivory.<ref name=":0" />
==Phylogeny== Cladogram after Rovinsky ''et al.'' (2019):<ref name=":0" /> {{Clade |label1='''Thylacinidae''' |1={{Clade |1=''Badjcinus turnbulli'' |2={{Clade |1={{Clade |1=''Nimbacinus dicksoni'' |2={{Clade |1=''Muribacinus gadiyuli'' |2=''Ngamalacinus timmulvaneyi'' }} }} |2={{Clade |1=''Tyarrpecinus rothi'' |2={{Clade |label2=''Thylacinus'' |1=''Wabulacinus ridei'' |2={{Clade |1=''Thylacinus macknessi'' |2={{Clade |1=''Thylacinus potens'' |2={{Clade |1=''Thylacinus megiriani'' |2=''Thylacinus yorkellus'' |3=''Thylacinus cynocephalus'' }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}
== References == {{Reflist|refs= }}
==External links== *[http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/palaeontology/prehistoric/prehistoric_range_1.htm Prehistoric range of the Thylacinidae] *[http://www.amonline.net.au/thylacine/index.htm Australian Thylacine] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928120005/http://specieslist.com/endangered/common_name/T/Thylacine.shtml Various Links] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070213155515/http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/Metazoa/Deuterostoma/Chordata/Synapsida/Metatheria/Notometatheria/Dasyuromorphia/Thylacinidae.htm Mikko's Phylogeny Archive] *[http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/journey/index.htm The thylacine journey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509072019/http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/journey/index.htm |date=2008-05-09 }}
{{Agreodontia}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q31978}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Dasyuromorphs Category:Extinct animals of Australia Category:Extinct marsupials Category:Mammal families Category:Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte Category:Chattian first appearances