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A new genus of ancient marsupial lion has been discovered.

Palaeontologists discovered the fossil at Australia's Riversleigh World Heritage Area in Queensland, Australia.

At first scientists thought it was part of an existing group of marsupial lions, called the Priscileo Rauscher family.

But after studying it, they found it was a new genus!

They called the new discovery Lekaneleo roskellyae.

Although marsupial lions died out 35,000 years ago, they were pretty fearsome creatures.

Scientists think the Lekaneleo was about the size of a cat, but with incredibly powerful teeth!

"Lekaneleo had teeth in it that are a bit like micro bolt-cutting teeth; there is nothing this animal decided to eat that it couldn't have cut into bite-size, swallowable pieces almost immediately" said Michael Archer, professor of biological, earth and environmental science at the University of New South Wales to CNN.

They also believe the mini marsupial lions lived in trees and might have eaten birds, snakes and other small animals.

Experts are also trying to find out if climate change might have been a reason why the marsupial lions died out.

At one point the temperature in Riversleigh increased by two degrees, which resulted in half of its species being lost.