Ilariidae

Ilariidae
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Diprotodontia
Infraorder:	Vombatomorphia
Family:	†Ilariidae; Tedford & Woodburne, 1987
Genera
	†Ilaria; †Kuterintja

Ilariidae is a family of extinct vombatiform marsupials. Most ilariids are found in the middle Tertiary faunal assemblages of South Australia. Ilaria illumidens is the best-preserved representative of this extinct clade.

The only known specimen of Ilaria illumidens was found in the Namba Formation of Late Oligocene age, at Lake Pinpa, South Australia. The material consists of a partial cranium and mandibular fragments with most of the dentition, together with parts of the postcranial skeleton.^[1] The other species in this family are known from a few jaw fragments and intact molars attached; they are categorised in a separate family because their teeth structure is unique among Diprotodontia, in having a complicated folding pattern. Ilariids are thought to be the largest marsupials of their time in the Lake Eyre and Tarkarooloo basin.

References

^ http://www.tc.umn.edu/~jansa003/NSF/Fossils2.pdf accessed 2010-05-21^{[dead link]}

Patricia Vickers-Rich and Thomas Hewett Rich 1993 Wildlife of Gondwana Reed Books, Chatswood, New South Wales ISBN 0-7301-0315-3 Reed.

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[1] ttp://www.tc.umn.edu/~jansa003/NSF/Fossils2.pdf accessed 2010-05-21^{[dead link]}

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