Meniscolophus
genus of mammals
Meniscolophus is an extinct genus of marsupial of the family Diprotodontidae. Only one species has been described, Meniscolophus mawsoni, from the Late Pliocene of the Tirari Desert, South Australia.
History and naming
The first remains of Meniscolophus were collected by a joint expedition between the South Australian Museum, Department of Geology of the University of Adelaide, and the University of California Museum of Paleontology in 1953. They were found in the Pliocene-aged Tirari Formation of Lake Palankarinna, South Australia. The fossils were subsequently described by Ruben A. Stirton in 1955, alongside other fossils collected during the expedition. The holotype is a mandible and left maxillary fragment belonging to the same individual. Isolated teeth from the same locality have also been referred to this taxon.
The genus name means "crescent crest" in Ancient Greek. The species name was chosen to honour Sir. Douglas Mawson, a former professor at the University of Adelaide.
The public source identifies “Meniscolophus” as genus of mammals. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Meniscolophus, genus and mammals.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1991656. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1953 and 1955.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Meniscolophus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.