MammalBase - Accepted taxon: Thylacinus cynocephalus

Accepted taxon: Thylacinus cynocephalus
Taxon:	Thylacinus cynocephalus
Rank:	Species
Higher Classification:	DASYUROMORPHIA \| Thylacinidae \| Thylacinus
Reference:	Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), JHU Press, 2005.

Fig.1 - Ternary plot of the proximate analysis for the Thylacinus cynocephalus diet.
CF (Crude Fibre) 1, ASH (Ash contents) 10, NFE (Nitrogen-Free-Extract) 7, CP (Crude Protein) 62, EE (Ether Extract) 19. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 1. List of Diet Items for Thylacinus cynocephalus.
TSN Complete name	Part	Ratio ^a.	Reference(s)
Macropodidae	WHOLE	25.00	Grzimek,B…
Vombatidae	WHOLE	25.00	Grzimek,B…
Phalangeriformes	WHOLE	17.86	Grzimek,B…
Peramelidae	WHOLE	14.29	Grzimek,B…
Mammalia	WHOLE	10.71	Grzimek,B…
Aves	WHOLE	7.14	Grzimek,B…

^a. Standardized values. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 2. List of Standard Traits for Thylacinus cynocephalus.
Trait	Selected Value	All Value(s)	Reference(s)
Dietary category: Eisenberg 1981	Carnivore	Carnivore	–
Dietary category: Miljutin 2009	Animalivore	Animalivore	– Weisbecker, V., Beck, R., Guillerme, T., Harrington, A., Lange-Hodgson, L., Lee, M., Mardon, K., Phillips, M. 2023. Multiple modes of inference reveal less phylogenetic signal in marsupial basicranial shape compared with the rest of the cranium. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 378(1880), pp.None. Available at: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0085.
Locomotion: Eisenberg 1981	Terrestrial	Terrestrial	– Weisbecker, V., Beck, R., Guillerme, T., Harrington, A., Lange-Hodgson, L., Lee, M., Mardon, K., Phillips, M. 2023. Multiple modes of inference reveal less phylogenetic signal in marsupial basicranial shape compared with the rest of the cranium. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 378(1880), pp.None. Available at: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0085.

Table 3. List of Standard Measurements for Thylacinus cynocephalus.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	1	1	-	-	-	14,970	-	-	Engelman,…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	-	-	-	-	-	22,500	-	-	Meiri, S.…
Head-Body Length (HBL)	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	1,068	-	-	Engelman,…
Occipital condyle width (OCW)	nan	mm	1	1	-	-	-	34.99	-	-	Engelman,…

Table 4. List of other Measurements ^b. for Thylacinus cynocephalus.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
brainmass	nan	g	-	-	-	-	-	51	-	-	Engelman,…
skull_length	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	203	-	-	Engelman,…
femur circumference	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	34	-	-	Nelson, A…
humerus circumference	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	32	-	-	Nelson, A…

^b. other Measurements. Source Measurements which are not listed on or mapped with the Standard Traits..

Table 5. List of Data Sources for Thylacinus cynocephalus.
Taxon	Reference	Match	Status
Thylacinus cynocephalus	Turner,J., 2004, Mammals of Australia,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Thylacinus cynocephalus	Grzimek,B., 2003, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Mammals I-V,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Thylacinus cynocephalus	Weisbecker, V., Beck, R.M., Guillerme, T., Harrington, A.R., Lange-Hodgson, L., Lee, M.S., Mardon, K. and Phillips, M.J., 2023. Multiple modes of inference reveal less phylogenetic signal in marsupial basicranial shape compared with the rest of the cranium. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 378(1880), p.20220085.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Thylacinus cynocephalus	Engelman, R.K., 2022. Occipital condyle width (OCW) is a highly accurate predictor of body mass in therian mammals. BMC biology, 20(1), p.37.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Thylacinus cynocephalus	DeMers, A.C., 2023. Functional Significance of the Mandible, Tooth Roots, and Tooth Crowns, and their Implications for Fossil Dietary Inference (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Thylacinus cynocephalus	Meiri, S., Raia, P. and Phillimore, A.B., 2011. Slaying dragons: limited evidence for unusual body size evolution on islands. Journal of Biogeography, 38(1), pp.89-100.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Thylacinus cynocephalus	Nelson, A., Engelman, R.K. and Croft, D.A., 2023. How to weigh a fossil mammal? South American notoungulates as a case study for estimating body mass in extinct clades. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 30(3), pp.773-809.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted

Citation for this page: [The MammalBase community 2026. / CC BY 4.0. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7462864 Thylacinus cynocephalus , Accessed 30th April 2026 at https://mammalbase.net/me/4814]