 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2010) |
| Mutpuracinus Temporal range:
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
| Family: | †Thylacinidae |
| Genus: | †Mutpuracinus |
| Species: | †M. archibaldi
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| Binomial name | |
| †Mutpuracinus archibaldi | |
Mutpuracinus archibaldi is an extinct carnivorous, quadrupedal marsupial that lived during the middle Miocene and is the smallest known thylacinid at approximately 1.1 kilograms, the size of a quoll, though, more closely related to the recently extinct thylacine.
M. archibaldi would have resembled a dog with a long snout. Its molar teeth were specialized for carnivory, the cups and crest were reduced or elongated to give the molars a cutting blade.
Fossils of M. archibaldi have been discovered in deposits at Bullock Creek (Northern Territory) in the Northern Territory of Australia, and in the same deposits as Nimbacinus richi. It is named in honor of Ian Archibald for his contributions to the northern territory. Fossil specimens of M. archibaldi include a premaxilla with alveoli for four incisors, and the holotype, a left maxilla. thylacinid skull fossils are exceedingly rare and M. archiboldi is one of only three species known from fossil crania.
- ^ Murray, P.; Megirian, D. (2000). "Two New Genera and Three New Species of Thylacinidae (Marsupialia) from the Miocene of the Northern Territory, Australia". The Beagle: Occasional Papers of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences. 16: 145–162.