Sarcophilus laniarius

Sarcophilus laniarius is an extinct species of marsupial in the genus Sarcophilus. It is therefore closely related to the Tasmanian devil (S. harrisii). Richard Owen originally named the species Dasyurus laniarus.
Pleistocene fossil deposits in limestone caves at Naracoorte, South Australia include specimens of S. laniarius, which were around 15% larger and 50% heavier than modern devils. Older specimens believed to be 50–70,000 years old were found in Darling Downs in Queensland and in Western Australia. It is not clear whether the modern devil evolved from S. laniarius, or whether they coexisted at the time. Richard Owen argued for the latter hypothesis in the 19th century based on fossils found in 1877 in New South Wales. It has been conjectured that S. laniarius and S. moornaensis, another now-extinct larger species, may have hunted and scavenged. It is known that there were several genera and species of thylacine millions of years ago, and that they ranged in size, the smaller being more reliant on foraging. As the devil and thylacine are similar, the extinction of the co-existing thylacine species has been cited as evidence for an analogous history for the devils. It has been...