Abstract
THE ordinary person probably regards the kangaroo as the most characteristic of the native animals of Australia, and the Macropodidse is the family with the largest number of species and contains the largest animals. Considerable work has been done on this group; but nevertheless the review of the family given by G. H. H. Tate (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 91 ; 1948) is timely. The review falls into two parts, one on the anatomy and phylogeny, and the other on the taxonomy. It is suggested that phylogenetically two basal stocks, the subfamilies Potoroinsæ and Macropodinsæ, can be recognized ; but the relationship between them is not clear. Some authorities have gone so far as to suggest that each has arisen independently from a phalangeroid stock. It seems clear that no division of the recent phalangerids could have given rise to either subfamily. Within the groups the author gives reasonable phylogenetic lines. To the four generally recognized subfamilies, the author adds a fifth for the reception of certain extinct species, the Palorchestinse. He recognizes and defines 107 distinct forms falling into 22 genera. A considerable literature has grown up around the question of the specific identification of the kangaroo recorded by Captain Cook, and, after a review of this and other evidence, the author concludes that the animal in question is Macropus canguru canguru, a north-eastern subspecies, the south-eastern equivalent of which is Macropus canguru major.
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Kangaroos. Nature 162, 989 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162989b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162989b0