Differences in prey utilization by Pleistocene marsupial carnivores, Thylacoleo carnifex (Thylacoleonidae) and Thylacinus cynocephalus (Thylacinidae).

Abstract

A case for the partitioning of prey items based upon both the body size of the predator and the prey can be made. Thylacoleo carnifex appears to have been selecting animals of large body size (though probably not Diprotodon) all of which were elements of the Australian Pleistocene megafauna. Thylacinus cynocephalus, on the other hand, seems to have been selecting animals of medium to small body size. This would suggest that the two Pleistocene marsupial carnivores, Thylacoleo carnifex and Thylacinus cynocephalus, could have coexisted within a single community because their dietary niches did not overlap.