Yingabalanara
fossil genus of mammals
Yingabalanara is an extinct mammal from the Miocene of Australia. Known only from a few teeth, its affinities with other mammal groups remain unresolved.
Description
Yingabalanara is known from two lower right molar teeth. The chewing surface of the tooth has two overlapping crescent-like cusps (hence the animal's name). Due to the sheer bizarreness of the teeth it's not entirely clear to which normal molar structures these cusps correspond to, being variously interpreted as talonids, trigonids or other cusps. The molars are double-rooted, and possess what appears to be a remnant cingulid.
The overall proportions seem to suggest an animal about the size of a rat, and the tooth morphology is consistent with omnivorous habits. However, for obvious reasons the animal's overall appearance and morphology are unknown.
Etymology
Yingabalanara is a Wanyi word meaning "two moons", in reference to the mammal's crescent-like cusps. The word is masculine in gender, as befitting the status of the predominantly masculine Australian lunar deities.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Yingabalanara” is fossil genus of mammals. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Yingabalanara, fossil and genus, not as a finished interpretation.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21368854. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Yingabalanara” 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.