Talk:Brachalletes

Scientific classification

The current version of the text reads: "The species was assigned to the order Diprotodontia, suborder Macropodiformes, and family Hypsiprymnodontidae by McKenna and Bell in 1997, though it is placed in its own order by other authorities". I don't know where this is from, and it is definitely incorrect... I have the print version of McKenna and Bell in front of me, and on p. 58, this genus (not species: M&B is a classification to the level of genus only) is assigned simply to Order Diprotodontia, family unspecified. Fossilworks/Paleobiology Database (as at August 2022) assigns it to "Parent taxon: Diprotodontidae according to M. C. McKenna and S. K. Bell 1997" but again this is not supported by the facts. Also (via Google Scholar at least) I can find nothing to support the statement "it is placed in its own order by other authorities". J. Louys and G.J. Price, 2013 (https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00042.2013) place in Family Macropodidae with the comment: "Described by de Vis (1883b), the taxon was included in the family Macropodidae by Mahoney and Ride (1975), although they also suggested that it might be better placed in the Diprotodontidae. Dawson and Flannery (1985) suggested it possessed no characters diagnostic of the Macropodinae (long-faced kangaroos), and its placement remains uncertain, if indeed it is a valid taxon. We consider Brachalletes palmeri as a species inquirenda." I would suggest it be allocated in Wikipedia to Diprotodontia per McKenna & Bell, or Macropodidae per Louys & Price - slight preference for the former at this time based on Louys & Price's statement :) Tony Rees, IRMNG database (www.irmng.org) Tony 1212 (talk) 19:55, 16 August 2022 (UTC)