Evolution of Macropodidae

The Macropodidae are an extant family of marsupial with the distinction of the ability to move bipedally on the hind legs, sometimes by jumping, as well as quadrupedally. They are herbivores, but some fossil genera like Ekaltadeta are hypothesised to have been carnivores.^[1] The taxonomic affiliations within the family and with other groups of marsupials is still in flux.^[2] Macropodids are considered to be the most diverse group of marsupial herbivores ever to have evolved, and have been the subject of more phylogenetic studies than any other marsupial family.^[3]

^ Stephen Wroe, Jenni Brammall, and Bernard N. Cooke "The Skull of Ekaltadeta ima (Marsupialia, Hypsiprymnodontidae?): An Analysis of Some Marsupial Cranial Features and a Reinvestigation of Propleopine Phylogeny, With Notes on the Inference of Carnivory in Mammals Journal of Paleontology. 72(4), 1998, pp. 738-751
^ Cite error: The named reference Kear et al 2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ PRIDEAUX, GAVIN J.; WARBURTON, NATALIE M. (2010-07-26). "An osteology-based appraisal of the phylogeny and evolution of kangaroos and wallabies (Macropodidae: Marsupialia)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 159 (4): 954–987. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00607.x. ISSN 0024-4082.

[Stephen-1] Stephen Wroe, Jenni Brammall, and Bernard N. Cooke "The Skull of Ekaltadeta ima (Marsupialia, Hypsiprymnodontidae?): An Analysis of Some Marsupial Cranial Features and a Reinvestigation of Propleopine Phylogeny, With Notes on the Inference of Carnivory in Mammals Journal of Paleontology. 72(4), 1998, pp. 738-751

[Kear_et_al_2001-2] Cite error: The named reference Kear et al 2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] PRIDEAUX, GAVIN J.; WARBURTON, NATALIE M. (2010-07-26). "An osteology-based appraisal of the phylogeny and evolution of kangaroos and wallabies (Macropodidae: Marsupialia)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 159 (4): 954–987. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00607.x. ISSN 0024-4082.

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