What evolutionary event is hinted at by examining fossil relatives of ancient wallabies?
Answer
An important evolutionary leap within the larger kangaroo lineage
Fossil evidence concerning ancient wallaby relatives provides critical insight into the deep history of the kangaroo family. The remains of these ancestral forms illuminate a significant evolutionary leap or divergence point that occurred within the lineage leading to modern kangaroos. This suggests that the original ancestral stock was less specialized in size than later classifications indicate, with the processes of enlargement and specialization into distinct forms happening later across different branches of the Macropodidae family tree.
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