Scientists Uncover Extinct Australian Marsupials From 15 Million Years Ago

Australian scientists have discovered remnants of an extinct marsupial that roamed the earth some 15 million years ago and survived by eating snails.

Known as "malleodectes mirabilis," researchers further describe the creatures as "equipped with huge, hammer-like premolars that allowed them to eat snails whole."

Creatures Linked to Tasmanian Devil

Additional findings suggest that the creature was a relative of such contemporary animals as the Tasmanian devil. Tracings were first found near Queensland, around Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site, where scientists have uncovered eye-opening remains before.

"Malleodectes mirabilis was a bizarre mammal, as strange in its own way as a koala or kangaroo," said University of New South Wales paleontologist Mike Archer, the lead author of a study published in Scientific Reports, said in a statement.

The main traces of the animal came in dental form, with isolated samples of teeth and dentitions being uncovered over several years. With that, scientists dubbed the escargot-loving family of creatures The Marvelous Hammer Biter, in deference to their ability to chomp through snail shells.

Researchers came to the point of declaring the animals a family of their own after finding a portion of a skull from a young member of the marsupial group in the cave deposit.

Scientists discovered the cave in the 1990s, and it has been a continual source of information, with such fossils as a marsupial capable of searching for food like a woodpecker and a tusked kangaroo-type animal. Arguably, the most memorable creature discovered has proven to be the large Dromornis bird known as the "The Demon Duck of Doom."

Species now Extinct

Still, Archer seems convinced the young marsupial may be one of a kind, with the animals becoming extinct not long after the juvenile from his study perished largely due to a drastic climate change that has taken place over the last 15 million years.

They went extinct not long after the juvenile from Archer's study died, thanks to a period of intense climate change that transformed Australia's rain forests into dry grasslands. If the baby malleodectid has any siblings, they're probably buried in the ground.