Macropodiformes

Macropodiformes is a suborder of marsupials within Diprotodontia, including kangaroos, wallabies, rat-kangaroos, and their extinct relatives. Its members range from large hopping herbivores to small forest-dwelling species.

Diprotodontia: An order of marsupials characterized by a pair of forward-pointing lower incisors. Macropodiformes is one of the major suborders within this broader marsupial order.
Red kangaroo: The largest living marsupial, native to arid and semiarid regions of Australia. It exemplifies the large-bodied, long-distance hopping form associated with the suborder.
Australidelphia: A major marsupial clade comprising most living Australasian marsupials and their fossil relatives. Macropodiformes belongs to this wider radiation of Australasian marsupials.
Saltation: A mode of locomotion involving repeated leaps, especially by animals moving on land. Many macropodiforms use saltation to travel efficiently across open ground.
Mammal extinctions in Australia: The loss of numerous Australian mammal species since European colonization, especially smaller ground-dwelling forms. Several macropodiform species have disappeared amid the broader collapse of Australia's mammal fauna.
Marsupial: A mammal whose young are born at an early developmental stage and typically continue developing while attached to a teat. Macropodiformes belongs to this mammalian group, though its members vary in pouch development.
Swamp wallaby: A dark, forest-dwelling wallaby found in eastern Australia. Its browsing and forest habitat contrast with the open-country lives of many kangaroos.
Balbaridae: An extinct family of Australian macropodiforms known from Miocene fossils. Balbarids preserve early forms that differed from the specialized modern kangaroo body plan.
Elastic energy storage: The storage and return of mechanical energy in stretched elastic tissues during movement. Tendons in large kangaroos recycle energy during hopping, reducing the cost of fast travel.
Red fox in Australia: An introduced predator that became widespread across much of mainland Australia. Fox predation has contributed to declines in small macropodiforms, including several rat-kangaroos.

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ThylacoleoCompared with: Its herbivorous relatives highlight how radically Thylacoleo’s teeth departed from typical marsupial diets.