| Woodburnodon Temporal range: Eocene | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Microbiotheria |
| Family: | †Woodburnodontidae Goin et al., 2007 |
| Genus: | †Woodburnodon Goin et al., 2007 |
| Species: | †W. casei |
| Binomial name | |
| †Woodburnodon casei Goin et al., 2007[1] | |
Woodburnodon is an extinct genus of microbiotherian marsupial whose fossils have been found on Seymour Island, Antarctica. It lived during the Eocene epoch.
The genus is represented by single species, Woodburnodon casei, which was described in 2007 from fossils found on the Antarctic peninsula.[2] Woodburnodon is currently the only formally described species in the family Woodburnodontidae, although fossils of a unidentified Early Eocene woodburnodontids have also been found in Patagonia.[3]
Woodburnodon was the largest known member of the order Microbiotheria. It was at least three or four times larger than the microbiotherid Pachybiotherium, which has been estimated at 215–312 g (7.6–11.0 oz).[2] This would put the size of Woodburnodon at around 1 kg (2.2 lb).