Quinkana


Quinkana is an extinct genus of mekosuchine crocodylians that lived in Australia from about 24 million to about 40,000 years ago. By the Pleistocene, Quinkana had become one of the top terrestrial predators of Australia, possessing long legs and ziphodont teeth. Quinkana comes from the "Quinkans", a legendary folk from Aboriginal myths.

Species

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

Description

Most specimens of Quinkana were small in size, about, though, a fragmentary, Pliocene-aged specimen is estimated to have reached up to in length, making it at the time one of Australia's largest predators, second only to the giant monitor lizard, Megalania.

Taxonomy

As stated earlier, Quinkana is a genus within the subfamily Mekosuchinae. Other genera included in this family include Australosuchus, Baru, Kambara, Mekosuchus, Pallimnarchus, and Trilophosuchus.