Biology of Australia
There are 3 species of Wakaleo known, W. alcootaensis, W. oldfieldi and W. vanderleueri.
Wakaleo vanderleueri was a dog-sized marsupial lion, about 80 cm long, not including the tail, and like the other marsupial lions its teeth were designed for stabbing and cutting. In a number of features of the skull Wakaleo was more primitive than Thylacoleo, having a longer, narrower skull. It is believed to be related to phalangeroids (possums). Unlike Thylacoleo it had lost its first premolar, the second premolar becoming the large cutting tooth, though not as enlarged as in Thylacoleo.
It has been found in fossil deposits at Bullock Creek in the Northern Territory and Riversleigh in Queensland.
- Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand & Henk Godthelp, Australia's Lost World: Riversleigh, world heritage Site, Reed New Holland
- Chris Johnson, Australia's Mammal Extinctions, a 50,000 year history, Cambridge University Press, 2006
- Josephine Flood, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, JB Publications, 2004
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