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Kangaroos and their relatives (family Macropodidae) are divided into the subfamilies Macropodinae (kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons) and Potoroinae (rat-kangaroos, potoroos, bettongs). The musky rat-kangaroo, Hypsiprymnodon moschatus, is traditionally allied with other potoroines, based primarily on the basis of osteological characters and aspects of the female reproductive system. Unlike other macropodids, however, which are capable of bipedal hopping, Hypsiprymnodon is a quadrupedal bounder and lacks several derived features of the pes and tarsus that are presumably adaptations for bipedal hopping. Other derived features, such as a complex stomach, loss of P₂ with the eruption of P₃ and reduction of litter size to one, are also lacking in Hypsiprymnodon but occur in all other macropodids. Thus, available evidence suggests that Hypsiprymnodon either is part of a monophyletic Potoroinae or is …