![]() However, many more species within the genus live and hunt hypogaeicly and these army ants are generally less visible than their epigaeic relatives (Berghoff et al., 2002). These species perform huge swarm raids along the ground and lower vegetation with hundreds of thousands of blind, polymorphic workers to hunt down a great variety of prey taxa in large quantities, predominantly invertebrates (Gotwald, 1982, 1995). Hita Garcia, Wiesel and Fischer (2013) - The army ant genus Dorylus is mostly known for the spectacular swarm raids performed by some epigaeic species, mostly belonging to the subgenus Anomma, better known as "driver ants". Most species are much less commonly observed, and forage underground or in leaf litter. The thylacinids, the group that includes Nimbacinus dicksoni and the Tasmanian tiger, “are an excellent example of an ecologically diverse family that has now become extinct, and provides an important reminder of how easily large carnivores such as the Tasmanian tiger can be wiped out if we don’t fight to save them,” Attard said.The Afrotropical ‘driver ants’ of this genus epitomize the army ant lifestyle, but they represent only a fraction of the diversity of Dorylus. The simulations suggested the Tasmanian tiger was poorly suited to capture and kill large prey despite being the largest of the marsupial predators to live into recent times.Ĭompared to the Tasmanian tiger, Nimbacinus dicksoni possessed a shorter, wider snout and its distinctive cheek teeth, used for cutting and shearing meat, were not as specialized, according to zoologist Marie Attard of the University of New England, another of the researchers. They are fearless and ferocious predators,” Wroe said. ![]() Nimbacinus dicksoni most closely matched the biting power of the spotted-tailed quoll, which has a pink nose and brown fur covered in white spots, even though the two species are not closely related, the researchers found. The researchers digitally replaced those parts using 3D computer software, then made a 3D model to predict mechanical performance and how the skull might do when biting and killing prey. The fossilized skull of Nimbacinus dicksoni was very well preserved but some parts still were damaged or missing. The researchers compared the bite force of the two species to each other and to existing marsupial predators including the Tasmanian devil, spotted-tailed quoll and northern quoll. ![]() ![]() It was a smaller relative of the Tasmanian tiger, which of course was not a cat despite its name. Nimbacinus dicksoni, also called Dickson’s thylacine, was about the size of a small fox or very big domestic cat, weighed about 11 pounds (5 kg) and had a face like a cross between a cat and an opossum. The island continent once was home to many more carnivorous marsupials, including the wolf-sized Tasmanian tiger that went extinct in 1936. Nimbacinus dicksoni proved to be quite formidable and was probably able to hunt prey bigger than itself, the study found.Īustralia’s marsupials include kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and koalas, but also some fierce meat-eaters like the Tasmanian devil and spotted-tailed quoll. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, assessed the biting and killing capabilities of a marsupial called Nimbacinus dicksoni that lived in northern Australia during the Miocene Epoch, a span of time populated by a wondrous array of mammals and other animals. They used 3D computer software to reconstruct its skull - patterned after a nicely preserved fossil - and performed biomechanical analysis to see whether it was a champion chomper. Those were the findings reported on Wednesday by scientists who essentially brought the extinct mammal back to life in the virtual world to study its bite force and other qualities in comparison to other marsupial meat-eaters. But while it was certainly fierce, it was no Tasmanian devil, Australia’s famously ferocious bantamweight brute. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A fox-sized marsupial predator that roamed Australia from about 23 to 12 million years ago had plenty of bite to go along with its bark.
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