Nimiokoala Temporal range: Early-middle Miocene
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
Order: | Diprotodontia |
Family: | Phascolarctidae |
Genus: | †Nimiokoala Black and Archer, 1997 |
Species: | †N. greystanesi
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Binomial name | |
†Nimiokoala greystanesi Black and Archer, 1997[1]
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Nimiokoala greystanesi is an extinct marsupial, closely related to the extant koala, that inhabited northwestern Queensland in the early-middle Miocene (23–16 million years ago).[2] It is the only species assigned to the genus Nimiokoala. Along with species of sister genus Litokoala, it is the smallest representative of family Phascolarctidae.[3] Based on cladistic analysis, Nimiokoala is one of the more basal genera of Phascolarctide. It died out due to climate change rendering the environment more arid.[4] It probably had a more generalized diet than that of the modern species, but its exact food preferences are unknown.[5]