science

Thylacinidae

Thylacinidae is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Thylacinidae rather than just read about it. In short: Thylacinidae is an extinct family of carnivorous marsupials from the order Dasyuromorphia. The only species to survive into modern times was the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), which became extinct in 1936.

Key takeaways

Thylacinidae belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Thylacinidae to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Thylacinidae from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Thylacinidae is an extinct family of carnivorous marsupials from the order Dasyuromorphia. The only species to survive into modern times was the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), which became extinct in 1936. The consensus of authors prior to 1982 was that the thylacinid family were related to the Borhyaenidae, a group of South American predators, also extinct, that exhibited many similar characteristics of dentition. A review published in 1982 compared the skeletal structure of these groups, concluding the tarsal bones show greater affinity with the dasyurmorphs, strongly supporting the later theory that any dental similarities emerged independently via convergent evolution. Thylacinidae is currently considered to be sister to all other lineages within Dasyuromorpha, and is estimated to have split from other dasyuromorphs around 42-36 million years ago. The earliest thylacinid, Badjcinus from the Late Oligocene around 28 million years ago, is estimated to have been around 1.7 to 3.1 kilograms (3.7 to 6.8 lb) in weight, comparable to a living tiger quoll. Early thylacinids were unspecialised faunivores. The family exhibited its greatest diversity during the Miocene epoch, when there were several separate lineages of contemporaneous thylacinids, most of which were considerably smaller than the living thylacine. The genus Thylacinus emerged during the Early Miocene around 16 million years ago, and after the beginning of the Pliocene was the only living thylacinid genus. Over time members of the genus Thylacinus showed an increase in body and increased adaptation to hypercarnivory.

Phylogeny Cladogram after Rovinsky et al. (2019):

References

External links Prehistoric range of the Thylacinidae Australian Thylacine Various Links Mikko's Phylogeny Archive The thylacine journey Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thylacinidae

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thylacinidae claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Thylacinidae before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Thylacinidae ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Thylacinidae

In research: Thylacinidae appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Thylacinidae in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Thylacinidae is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Chattian first appearances, Dasyuromorphs, Extinct animals of Australia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thylacinidae outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Thylacinidae in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thylacinidae means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Thylacinidae out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thylacinidae in simple terms?

Why does Thylacinidae matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Thylacinidae?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Thylacinidae.