Barinya
Extinct genus of marsupials
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barinya is a fossil genus from the marsupial family Dasyuridae, which contains the oldest known undoubted dasyurid.[2] It is the only genus in the subfamily Barinyainae.
| Barinya Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
| Family: | Dasyuridae |
| Subfamily: | †Barinyainae Wroe, 1999 |
| Genus: | †Barinya Wroe, 1999 |
| Type species | |
| Barinya wangala (Wroe, 1999) | |
| Other species | |
| |
The principal differences between Barinya and more recent dasyurids are in the dentition and skull morphology, with Barinya displaying more primitive features. One described fossil exists and at least one remains to be described. This genus has only been found at Riversleigh in Queensland, where it is quite common in deposits from the Oligo-Miocene.[3]