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Wakaleo Temporal range: Miocene |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | †Thylacoleonidae |
| Genus: |
†Wakaleo Clemens & Plane, 1974 |
| Species | |
†W. alcootaensis
†W. oldfieldi
†W. vanderleuri
Wakaleo (indigenous Australian waka, "little", "small", and Latin leo, "lion") was a genus of medium-sized thylacoleonids that lived in Australia in the early to late Miocene. It was approximately 2.5 ft (80 cm) long, or the size of a dog. Although much smaller than its close relative, the marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex), Wakaleo would have been a successful hunter in its time. It had teeth specially designed for cutting and stabbing. The ocelot-sized predator Wakaleo, along with its jaguar-sized relative Thylacoleo, were actually related to the herbivore wombats.