Wakaleo was a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of medium-sized thylacoleonids

Thylacoleonidae

Thylacoleonidae is a family of extinct meat-eating marsupials from Australia, referred to as marsupial lions. The best known is Thylacoleo carnifex, also called the Marsupial Lion...

 that lived in Australia in the early to late Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

. It was approximately 2.5 ft (80 cm) long, or the size of a dog

Dog

The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

. Although much smaller than its close relative, the Marsupial Lion

Marsupial Lion

The Marsupial Lion is an extinct species of carnivorous marsupial mammal that lived in Australia from the early to the late Pleistocene...

 (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 cousin Thylacoleo, were actually related to the herbivore koalas.

REFERENCES: The Book of Life. Stephen Jay Gould, John Barber, Peter Andrews. Norton, W.W.& Company Inc. 2001. ISBN 0393321568

Species

• Wakaleo alcootaensis
  Wakaleo alcootaensis
  Wakaleo alcootaensis lived during the late Miocene, approximately 10 million years ago and was about the size of a dog.It has been found in Alcoota in the northern territory and is known from a single fossil maxilla fragment found in 1974 by Dr. Michael Archer.-External links:**...
  
  was found in the Miocene Waite Formation in the Northern Territory
  Northern Territory
  The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
  
   in 1974. It was slightly larger than the other two species.
• Wakaleo oldfieldi
  Wakaleo oldfieldi
  Wakaleo oldfieldi is an extinct species of marsupial lion found in the tertiary deposits of South Australia. There are three unfused molar teeth instead of two fused molars as is the case with the Pleistocene Thylacoleo carnifex.As with T...
  
  was found by a group of scientists working in the Miocene Wipijiri Formation in southern Australia in 1971. They found a nearly complete left dentry which included a few well-preserved teeth.
• Wakaleo vanderleuri
  Wakaleo vanderleuri
  Wakaleo vanderleuri is a species of "marsupial lion" that lived in Australia during the Miocene . It is not closely related to true cats, as being a marsupial its closest living relatives are wombats and the Koala...
  
  was first found by some field workers in 1967 in the Miocene Camfield Beds in the Northern Territory. Many more specimens have been found since then.

• {http: www.naturalworlds.org/thylacoleo/species/GS_tertiary.htm Tertiary Genera of Thylacoleonidae]
• Australia's Lost Kingdoms
• Mikko's Phylogeny Archive