Ektopodon

Ektopodon
Temporal range:
Life reconstruction of Ektopodon serratus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Suborder: Phalangeriformes
Superfamily: Phalangeroidea
Family: Ektopodontidae
Stirton, Tedford & Woodburne 1967
Genus: Ektopodon
Stirton, Tedford & Woodburne, 1967.
Type species
Ektopodon serratus
Stirton, Tedford & Woodburne 1967
Other species
  • E. litolophus Pledge, 1999
  • E. paucicristata Rich et al., 2006
  • E. stirtoni Pledge, 1986
  • E. tommosi Pledge, 2016
  • E. ulta Megirian et al., 2004

Ektopodon is an extinct genus of marsupial, and is the type genus of the family Ektopodontidae which occurred in forested environments in South Australia, Queensland and Victoria. The last species of this group went extinct in the early Pleistocene (between 2.588 million years ago and 781,000 years ago). Its body mass was estimated around 1300 grams. Scientists believe that ektopodontids were highly specialised seed-eating possums. [1]

The type species Ektopodon serratus describes material excavated at the Lake Ngapakaldi fossil site in South Australia.