''Macropus pearsoni'' is an extinct Australian

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxon, taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with vertebral column, backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the ...

species belonging to the family

Macropodidae Macropodidae is a family of marsupials that includes kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons, quokkas, and several other groups. These genera are allied to the suborder Macropodiformes, containing other macropods, and ...

, and is in the same genus (''

Macropus ''Macropus'' is a marsupial genus in the family Macropodidae. It has two extant species of large terrestrial kangaroos. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek μάκρος, ''makros'' "long" and πους, ''pous'' "foot". Thirteen known exti ...

'') as extant kangaroos. ''M. pearsoni'' lived during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

. It is known from fossil mandibles collected from Pleistocene beds from the Darling Downs in New South Wales, Lake Kanunka in northeastern South Australia, and the Cape York Peninsula. it reached a size similar to Macropus titan, which is a mass of 150 kg.

References

Prehistoric macropods Prehistoric mammals of Australia Pleistocene marsupials Fossil taxa described in 1971 {{paleo-marsupial-stub