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{{Short description|Infraclass of mammals in the clade Metatheria}}{{About|the mammals|frogs|Amphignathodontidae{{!}}Marsupial frog}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}{{Automatic taxobox| name = Marsupials
Paleoceneearliest=Campanian}}Possible Late Cretaceous records| image = Marsupialia.jpg| image_caption = Clockwise from left: eastern grey kangaroo, Virginia opossum, long-nosed bandicoot, monito del monte and Tasmanian devil representing the orders Diprotodontia, Didelphimorphia, Peramelemorphia, Microbiotheria and Dasyuromorphia respectively| taxon = MarsupialiaJohann Karl Wilhelm Illiger>Illiger, 1811| subdivision_ranks = OrdersOpossum>Didelphimorphia {{Legend|#B4436C|Introduced}}{{Legend|#3185FC|Native}}}}Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are primarily found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of the defining features of marsupials is their unique reproductive strategy, where the young are born in a relatively undeveloped state and then nurtured within a pouch.Living marsupials encompass a wide range of species, including kangaroos, koalas, opossums, Tasmanian devils, wombats, wallabies, and bandicoots, among others. Each species exhibits distinct adaptations and behaviors suited to its particular ecological niche.Marsupials constitute a clade stemming from the last common ancestor of extant metatherians, which encompasses all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. This evolutionary split between placentals and marsupials occurred at least 125 million years ago, possibly dating back over 160 million years to the Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous period.Characteristically, marsupials give birth to relatively underdeveloped offspring that typically reside in a pouch situated on their mothers’ abdomen for a period of time. Presently, close to 70% of the 334 extant species of marsupials are concentrated on the Australian continent, including mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and nearby islands. The remaining 30% are distributed across the Americas, primarily in South America, with thirteen species in Central America and a single species, the Virginia opossum, inhabiting North America north of Mexico.The word marsupial comes from marsupium, the technical term for the abdominal pouch. It, in turn, is borrowed from the Latin and ultimately from the ancient Greek {{transliteration|grc|mársippos}}, meaning “pouch”.{{TOC limit|3}}

Anatomy

File:Koala climbing tree.jpg|thumb|KoalaKoalaMarsupials have the typical characteristics of mammals—e.g., mammary glands, three middle ear bones, (and ears that usually have tragi,JOURNAL, Stannard HJ, Dennington K, Old JM, The external ear morphology and presence of tragi in Australian marsupials, Ecology and Evolution, 10, 9853-9866, 2020, 10.1002/ece3.6634, 7520188, varying in hearing thresholdsJOURNAL, Old JM, Parsons CL, Tulk, ML, Hearing thresholds of small native Australian mammals - red-tailed phascogale (Phascogale calura), kultarr (Antechinomys laniger) and spinifex hopping-mice (Notomys Alexis), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society., 190, 342-351, 2020, 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa003, ) and true hair. There are, however, striking differences as well as a number of anatomical features that separate them from eutherians.Most female marsupials have a front pouch, which contains multiple teats for the sustenance of their young. Marsupials also have other common structural features. Ossified patellae are absent in most modern marsupials (though a small number of exceptions are reported)JOURNAL, Samuels ME, Regnault S, Hutchinson JR, Evolution of the patellar sesamoid bone in mammals, PeerJ, 5, e3103, 2017, 28344905, 5363259, 10.7717/peerj.3103, free, and epipubic bones are present. Marsupials (and monotremes) also lack a gross communication (corpus callosum) between the right and left brain hemispheres.{{sfn|Nowak|1999}}

Skull and teeth

Marsupials exhibit distinct cranial features compared to placental mammals. Generally, their skulls are relatively small and compact. Notably, they possess frontal holes known as foramen lacrimale situated at the front of the orbit. Marsupials also have enlarged cheekbones that extend further to the rear, and their lower jaw’s angular extension (processus angularis) is bent inward toward the center. The hard palate of marsupials contains more openings compared to placental mammals.Teeth in marsupials also differ significantly from those in placental mammals. For instance, most Australian marsupials outside the order Diprotodontia have a varying number of incisors between their upper and lower jaws. Early marsupials had a dental formula of 5.1.3.4/4.1.3.4 per quadrant, consisting of five (maxillary) or four (mandibular) incisors, one canine, three premolars, and four molars, totaling 50 teeth. While some taxa, like the opossum, retain this original tooth count, others have reduced numbers.For instance, members of the Macropodidae family, including kangaroos and wallabies, have a dental formula of 3/1 – (0 or 1)/0 – 2/2 – 4/4. Many marsupials typically have between 40 and 50 teeth, which is notably more than most placental mammals. Notably, in marsupials, the second set of teeth only grows in at the site of the third premolar and posteriorly; all teeth anterior to this erupt initially as permanent teeth.

Torso

Few general characteristics describe their skeleton. In addition to unique details in the construction of the ankle, epipubic bones (ossa epubica) are observed projecting forward from the pubic bone of the pelvis. Since these are present in males and pouchless species, it is believed that they originally had nothing to do with reproduction, but served in the muscular approach to the movement of the hind limbs. This could be explained by an original feature of mammals, as these epipubic bones are also found in monotremes. Marsupial reproductive organs differ from the placental mammals. For them, the reproductive tract is doubled. The females have two uteri and two vaginas, and before birth, a birth canal forms between them, the median vagina.{{sfn|Nowak|1999}} In most species, males have a split or double penis lying in front of the scrotum, which is not homologous to the scrotum of placental mammals.BOOK, Armati, Patricia J.,books.google.com/books?id=x3S5v971Nk0C&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA115&dq=scrotum&hl=en, Marsupials, Dickman, Chris R., Hume, Ian D., 2006-08-17, Cambridge University Press, 978-1-139-45742-2, en, A pouch is present in most, but not all, species. Many marsupials have a permanent bag, whereas in others the pouch develops during gestation, as with the shrew opossum, where the young are hidden only by skin folds or in the fur of the mother. The arrangement of the pouch is variable to allow the offspring to receive maximum protection. Locomotive kangaroos have a pouch opening at the front, while many others that walk or climb on all fours have the opening in the back. Usually, only females have a pouch, but the male water opossum has a pouch that is used to accommodate his genitalia while swimming or running.

General and convergences

{{Multiple image| align = right| total_width = 440		SugarGlider CincinnatiZooSouthern Flying Squirrel-27527-1| footer = The sugar glider, a marsupial, (left) and flying squirrel, a rodent, (right) are examples of convergent evolution.}}Marsupials have adapted to many habitats, reflected in the wide variety in their build. The largest living marsupial, the red kangaroo, grows up to {{convert|1.8|m|ftin}} in height and {{convert|90|kg|lbs}} in weight, but extinct genera, such as Diprotodon, were significantly larger and heavier. The smallest members of this group are the marsupial mice, which often reach only {{convert|5|cm|in}} in body length.Some species resemble placental mammals and are examples of convergent evolution. This convergence is evident in both brain evolutionJOURNAL, Todorov OS, Blomberg SP, Goswami A, Sears K, Drhlík P, Peters J, Weisbecker V, Testing hypotheses of marsupial brain size variation using phylogenetic multiple imputations and a Bayesian comparative framework, Proceedings. Biological Sciences, 288, 1947, 20210394, March 2021, 33784860, 8059968, 10.1098/rspb.2021.0394, and behaviour.BOOK, Todorov OS, Marsupial Cognition, 2019, Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior, 1–8, Vonk J, Shackelford T, Cham, Springer International Publishing, en, 10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1167-1, 978-3-319-47829-6, 242256517, The extinct thylacine strongly resembled the placental wolf, hence one of its nicknames “Tasmanian wolf”. The ability to glide evolved in both marsupials (as with sugar gliders) and some placental mammals (as with flying squirrels), which developed independently. Other groups such as the kangaroo, however, do not have clear placental counterparts, though they share similarities in lifestyle and ecological niches with ruminants.

Body temperature

Marsupials, along with monotremes (platypuses and echidnas), typically have lower body temperatures than similarly sized placental mammals (eutherians),BOOK, Abstract: Thermoregulation in marsupials and monotremes, chapter of Marsupials and monotremes: nature’s enigmatic mammals, 2015, Gaughan, John B., Hogan, Lindsay A., Wallage, Andrea, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated,espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:380292, 9781634834872, 2022-04-20, with the averages being {{convert|35|°C}} for marsupials and {{convert|37|°C}} for placental mammals.WEB,www.bio.davidson.edu/courses/anphys/1999/White/thermal.htm, White, Thermal Biology of the Platypus, Davidson College, 1999, 2006-09-14, dmy-all, dead,www.bio.davidson.edu/courses/anphys/1999/White/thermal.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20120306024923www.bio.davidson.edu/courses/anphys/1999/White/thermal.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20120306024923www.bio.davidson.edu/courses/anphys/1999/White/thermal.htm, March 6, 2012, WEB,faculty.bennington.edu/~sherman/comp.%20anim.%20physiol./control%20systems%20part%202.pdf, Control Systems Part 2, 6 July 2016, 8 October 2016,faculty.bennington.edu/~sherman/comp.%20anim.%20physiol./control%20systems%20part%202.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20161008154505faculty.bennington.edu/~sherman/comp.%20anim.%20physiol./control%20systems%20part%202.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20161008154505faculty.bennington.edu/~sherman/comp.%20anim.%20physiol./control%20systems%20part%202.pdf, dead, Some species will bask to conserve energy JOURNAL, Stannard, Hayley J., Fabian, Megan, Old, Julie M., 2015, To bask or not to bask: Behavioural thermoregulation in two species of dasyurid, Phascogale calura and Antechinomys laniger, Journal of Thermal Biology, 53, 66–71, 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2015.08.012, 26590457,

{{anchor|Reproductive_System}}Reproductive system

{{see also|Kangaroo#Reproduction and life cycle}}File:Kangaroo and joey03.jpg|thumb|150px|Female eastern grey kangaroo with a joey in her pouch]]Marsupials’ reproductive systems differ markedly from those of placental mammals.BOOK, Short RV, Balaban E, The Differences Between the Sexes, {{google books, y, zunYrumtsR8C, |date=1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-44878-9}} During embryonic development, a choriovitelline placenta forms in all marsupials. In bandicoots, an additional chorioallantoic placenta forms, although it lacks the chorionic villi found in eutherian placentas.The evolution of reproduction in marsupials, and speculation about the ancestral state of mammalian reproduction, have engaged discussion since the end of the 19th century. Both sexes possess a cloaca, which is connected to a urogenital sac used to store waste before expulsion. The bladder of marsupials functions as a site to concentrate urine and empties into the common urogenital sinus in both females and males.{{anchor|Reproduction}}

{{anchor|Male}}Male reproductive system

File:The_cyclopædia_of_anatomy_and_physiology_(1847)_(20821803985).jpg|thumb|left|100px|Reproductive tract of a male macropod ]]Most male marsupials, except for macropodsBOOK, Staker L, Macropod Husbandry, Healthcare and Medicinals—Volumes One and Two, {{google books, y, 37e1AwAAQBAJ, |date=30 June 2014|publisher=Lynda Staker|isbn=978-0-9775751-2-1}} and marsupial moles,On the Habits and Affinities of the New Australian Mammal, Notoryctes typhlopsE. D. CopeThe American NaturalistVol. 26, No. 302 (February 1892), pp. 121–128 have a (wikt:bifurcated|bifurcated) penis, separated into two columns, so that the penis has two ends corresponding to the females’ two vaginas.{{sfn|Nowak|1999}}WEB,www.biology.iastate.edu/InternationalTrips/1Australia/Australia%20papers/Discoveries%20about%20Marsupial%20Rep, Iowa State University Biology Dept., Discoveries about Marsupial Reproduction, King A, 2001, 22 November 2012, dead,www.biology.iastate.edu/InternationalTrips/1Australia/Australia%20papers/Discoveries%20about%20Marsupial%20Rep," title="web.archive.org/web/20120905123347www.biology.iastate.edu/InternationalTrips/1Australia/Australia%20papers/Discoveries%20about%20Marsupial%20Rep,">web.archive.org/web/20120905123347www.biology.iastate.edu/InternationalTrips/1Australia/Australia%20papers/Discoveries%20about%20Marsupial%20Rep, 5 September 2012, BOOK, Hunsaker II D, The Biology of Marsupials, {{google books, y, cESCLrRJGm0C, |year= 1977|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-0-323-14620-3}}BOOK, 10.1007/978-1-349-02721-7_24, Reproduction in male marsupials, The Biology of Marsupials, 411–457, 1977, Setchell BP, 978-1-349-02723-1, BOOK, Renfree M, Tyndale-Biscoe H, Reproductive Physiology of Marsupials, {{google books, y, HpjovN0vXW4C, |date=1987|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521337922}}JOURNAL, Sharman GB, Pilton PE, The life history and reproduction of the red kangaroo (Megaleia rufa), Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1964, 142, 1, 29–48, 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1964.tb05152.x, JOURNAL, Sadleir RM, Reproduction in two species of kangaroo (Macropus robustus and Megaleia rufa in the arid Pilbara region of Western Australia, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1965, 145, 2, 239–261, 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1965.tb02016.x, The penis is used only during copulation, and is separate from the urinary tract. It curves forward when erect,BOOK, Sadleir R, The Reproduction of Vertebrates, {{google books, y, PVP-wS9UXwoC, |date=1973|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-0-323-15935-7}} and when not erect, it is retracted into the body in an S-shaped curve. Neither marsupials nor monotremes possess a baculum.{{sfn|Nowak|1999}} The shape of the glans penis varies among marsupial species.BOOK, Australian Mammal Society, Australian Mammal Society, {{google books, y, N_ifwszrgFsC, 73, |date=1978|publisher=Australian Mammal Society|pages=73–}}BOOK, Osgood WH, Herrick CJ, A monographic study of the American marsupial, CaÄ“nolestes ..., {{google books, y, 8Ag9AAAAYAAJ, 64, |year=1921|publisher=University of Chicago|pages=64–}}BOOK, The Urologic and Cutaneous Review, {{google books, y, nApEAAAAYAAJ, 677, |year=1920|publisher=Urologic & Cutaneous Press|pages=677–}}The male thylacine had a pouch that acted as a protective sheath, covering his external reproductive organs while running through thick brush.BOOK, Paddle R, The last Tasmanian tiger : the history and extinction of the thylacine, 2002, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, Vic., 978-0-521-53154-2, Paperback, The shape of the urethral grooves of the males’ genitalia is used to distinguish between Monodelphis brevicaudata, Monodelphis domestica, and Monodelphis americana. The grooves form 2 separate channels that form the ventral and dorsal folds of the erectile tissue.JOURNAL, Nogueira J, Castro AS, Câamara EC, Câmara BO, Morphology of the Male Genital system of Chironectes minimus and Comparison to other didelphid marsupials, Journal of Mammalogy, 85, 5, 834–841, 10.1644/207, 2004, 85595933, Several species of dasyurid marsupials can also be distinguished by their penis morphology.JOURNAL, Woolley PA, Westerman M, Krajewski C, December 2007, Interspecific Affinities within the Genus Sminthopsis (Dasyuromorphia: Dasyuridae) Based on Morphology of the Penis: Congruence with Other Anatomical and Molecular Data, Journal of Mammalogy, 88, 6, 1381–1392, 10.1644/06-mamm-a-443r.1, 0022-2372, free, The only accessory sex glands marsupials possess are the prostate and bulbourethral glands.JOURNAL, Rodger JC, Hughes RL, Studies of the accessory glands of male marsupials, Australian Journal of Zoology, 1973, 21, 3, 303, 10.1071/ZO9730303, 1959.4/70011,unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:71547/SOURCE01?view=true, free, Male marsupials have 1-3 pairs of bulbourethral glands.BOOK, Vogelnest L, Portas T,books.google.com/books?id=396VDwAAQBAJ&q=bulbourethral, Current Therapy in Medicine of Australian Mammals, 2019-05-01, Csiro Publishing, 978-1-4863-0753-1, en, There are no ampullae of vas deferens, seminal vesicles or coagulating glands.JOURNAL, Rodger JC, Comparative aspects of the accessory sex glands and seminal biochemistry of mammals, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. B, Comparative Biochemistry, 55, 1, 1–8, January 1976, 780045, 10.1016/0305-0491(76)90164-4, The prostate is proportionally larger in marsupials than in placental mammals. During the breeding season, the male tammar wallaby’s prostate and bulbourethral gland enlarge. However, there does not appear to be any seasonal difference in the weight of the testes.JOURNAL, Inns RW, Seasonal changes in the accessory reproductive system and plasma testosterone levels of the male tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii, in the wild, Journal of Reproduction and Fertility, 66, 2, 675–680, November 1982, 7175821, 10.1530/jrf.0.0660675, free,

{{anchor|Female}}Female reproductive system

{{see also|Birth#Marsupials}}(File:Cambridge Natural History Mammalia Fig 048.png|thumb|300px|Female reproductive anatomy of several marsupial species)Female marsupials have two lateral vaginas, which lead to separate uteri, but both open externally through the same orifice. A third canal, the median vagina, is used for birth. This canal can be transitory or permanent.{{sfn|Nowak|1999}} Some marsupial species are able to store sperm in the oviduct after mating.BOOK, Plant TM, Zeleznik AJ, Knobil and Neill’s Physiology of Reproduction,books.google.com/books?id=I1ACBAAAQBAJ, 15 November 2014, Academic Press, 978-0-12-397769-4, Marsupials give birth at a very early stage of development; after birth, newborn marsupials crawl up the bodies of their mothers and attach themselves to a teat, which is located on the underside of the mother, either inside a pouch called the marsupium, or open to the environment. Mothers often lick their fur to leave a trail of scent for the newborn to follow to increase chances of making it into the marsupium. There they remain for a number of weeks, attached to the teat. The offspring are eventually able to leave the marsupium for short periods, returning to it for warmth, protection, and nourishment.WEB, Stannard, Hayley J., Old, Julie M., Wallaby joeys and platypus puggles are tiny and undeveloped when born. But their mother’s milk is near-magical,theconversation.com/wallaby-joeys-and-platypus-puggles-are-tiny-and-undeveloped-when-born-but-their-mothers-milk-is-near-magical-207726, The Conversation, 2023, JOURNAL, Stannard, Hayley J., Miller, Robert D., Old, Julie M., Marsupial and monotreme milk – a review of its nutrients and immune properties, PeerJ, 2020, 8, e9335, 10.7717/peerj.9335, 32612884, 7319036, free,

Early development

File:Jeune M. rufogriseus poche.jpg|thumb|A red-necked wallabyred-necked wallabyPrenatal development differs between marsupials and placental mammals. Key aspects of the first stages of placental mammal embryo development, such as the inner cell mass and the process of compaction, are not found in marsupials.JOURNAL, Frankenberg SR, de Barros FR, Rossant J, Renfree MB, The mammalian blastocyst, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Developmental Biology, 5, 2, 210–232, 2016, 26799266, 10.1002/wdev.220, 22001725, The cleavage stages of marsupial development are very variable between groups and aspects of marsupial early development are not yet fully understood.An infant marsupial is known as a joey. Marsupials have a very short gestation period—usually between 12.5 and 33 days,JOURNAL, Smith, Kathleen K., Keyte, Anna L., 2020, Adaptations of the Marsupial Newborn: Birth as an Extreme Environment, The Anatomical Record, 303, 2, 235–249, 10.1002/ar.24049, 30548826, 56484546, free, but as low as 10.7 days in the case of the stripe-faced dunnart and as long as 38 days for the long-nosed potoroo.JOURNAL, Drews, Barbara, Roellig, Kathleen, Menzies, Brandon R., Shaw, Geoff, Buentjen, Ina, Herbert, Catherine A., Hildebrandt, Thomas B., Renfree, Marilyn B., 15 March 2013, Ultrasonography of wallaby prenatal development shows that the climb to the pouch begins in utero, Scientific Reports, 3, 1458, 1458, 10.1038/srep01458, 23492830, 3597997, 2013NatSR...3E1458D, The joey is born in an essentially fetal state, equivalent to an 8–12 week human fetus, blind, furless, and small in comparison to placental newborns with sizes ranging from 4g to over 800g. A newborn marsupial can be arranged into one of three grades of developmental complexity. Those who are the least developed at birth are found in dasyurids, intermediate ones are found in didelphids and peramelids, and the most developed are in macropods.JOURNAL, Morphology and evolution of the oral shield in marsupial neonates including the newborn monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides, Marsupialia Microbiotheria) pouch young - PMC, 2017, 5472534, Schneider, N. Y., Gurovich, Y., Journal of Anatomy, 231, 1, 59–83, 10.1111/joa.12621, 28620997, Despite the lack of development it crawls across its mother’s fur to make its way into the pouch, which acts like an external womb,BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=rR9XPnaqvCMC&dq=%22The+pouch+is+like+an+external+womb%22&pg=PA224, The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution, Richard, Dawkins, Yan, Wong, 9 February 2005, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 9780618619160, Google Books, where it latches onto a teat for food. It will not re-emerge for several months, during which time it is fully reliant on its mother’s milk for essential nutrients, growth factors and immunological defence.JOURNAL, Stannard HJ, Miller RD, Old JM, Marsupial and monotreme milk – a review of its nutrients and immune properties, PeerJ, 8, e9335, 2020, 10.7717/peerj.9335, 32612884, 7319036, free, Genes expressed in the eutherian placenta that are important for the later stages of fetal development are in female marsupials expressed in their mammary glands during their lactation period instead.WEB,med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/09/baby-marsupials-drink-placenta-to-enhance-development.html, Baby marsupials ‘drink’ placenta to enhance development, Krista Conger Krista Conger is a senior science writer in the Office of Communications Email her at, kristac@stanford.edu, News Center, After this period, the joey begins to spend increasing lengths of time out of the pouch, feeding and learning survival skills. However, it returns to the pouch to sleep, and if danger threatens, it will seek refuge in its mother’s pouch for safety.An early birth removes a developing marsupial from its mother’s body much sooner than in placental mammals; thus marsupials have not developed a complex placenta to protect the embryo from its mother’s immune system. Though early birth puts the tiny newborn marsupial at greater environmental risk, it significantly reduces the dangers associated with long pregnancies, as there is no need to carry a large fetus to a full term in bad seasons. Marsupials are extremely altricial animals, needing to be intensely cared for immediately following birth (cf. precocial). Newborn marsupials lack histologically mature immune tissues JOURNAL, Old JM, Deane EM, The lymphoid and immunohaematopoietic tissues of the embryonic brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), Anatomy and Embryology, 206, 3, 193–197, 2003, 10.1007/s00429-002-0285-2, 12592570, 546795, JOURNAL, Old JM, Selwood L, Deane EM, A histological investigation of the lymphoid and immunohaematopoietic tissues of the adult stripe-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura), Cells Tissues Organs, 173, 2, 115–121, 2003, 10.1159/000068946, 12649589, 46354564, JOURNAL, Old JM, Selwood L, Deane EM, Development of the lymphoid tissues of the stripe-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura), Cells Tissues Organs, 175, 4, 192–201, 2003, 10.1111/j.0021-8782.2004.00310.x, 15255959, 1571326, and are highly reliant on their mother’s immune system for immunological protection.,JOURNAL, Old JM, Deane EM, Development of the immune system and immunological protection in marsupial pouch young, Developmental and Comparative Immunology, 24, 5, 445–454, 2000, 10.1016/S0145-305X(00)00008-2, 10785270, as well as the milk.Newborn marsupials must climb up to their mother’s teats and their front limbs and facial structures are much more developed than the rest of their bodies at the time of birth.JOURNAL, Sears KE, Differences in the timing of prechondrogenic limb development in mammals: the marsupial-placental dichotomy resolved, Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution, 63, 8, 2193–2200, August 2009, 19453378, 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00690.x, 42635687, free, JOURNAL, Smith KK, Early development of the neural plate, neural crest and facial region of marsupials, Journal of Anatomy, 199, Pt 1-2, 121–131, 2001, 11523813, 1594995, 10.1046/j.1469-7580.2001.19910121.x, This requirement has been argued to have resulted in the limited range of locomotor adaptations in marsupials compared to placentals. Marsupials must develop grasping forepaws during their early youth, making the evolutive transition from these limbs into hooves, wings, or flippers, as some groups of placental mammals have done, more difficult. However, several marsupials do possess atypical forelimb morphologies, such as the hooved forelimbs of the pig-footed bandicoot, suggesting that the range of forelimb specialization is not as limited as assumed.Larry Vogelnest, Graeme Allan, Radiology of Australian MammalsJoeys stay in the pouch for up to a year in some species, or until the next joey is born. A marsupial joey is unable to regulate its body temperature and relies upon an external heat source. Until the joey is well-furred and old enough to leave the pouch, a pouch temperature of {{convert|30|-|32|C|F}} must be constantly maintained.Joeys are born with “oral shields”, which consist of soft tissue that reduces the mouth opening to a round hole just large enough to accept the mother’s teat. Once inside the mouth, a bulbous swelling on the end of the teat attaches it to the offspring till it has grown large enough to let go. In species without pouches or with rudimentary pouches these are more developed than in forms with well-developed pouches, implying an increased role in maintaining the young attached to the mother’s teat.JOURNAL, Schneider NY, The development of the olfactory organs in newly hatched monotremes and neonate marsupials, Journal of Anatomy, 219, 2, 229–242, August 2011, 21592102, 3162242, 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2011.01393.x, JOURNAL, Comparative anatomy of neonates of the three major mammalian groups (monotremes, marsupials, placentals) and implications for the ancestral mammalian neonate morphotype - PMC, 2017, 5696127, Ferner, K., Schultz, J. A., Zeller, U., Journal of Anatomy, 231, 6, 798–822, 10.1111/joa.12689, 28960296,

Geography

In Australasia, marsupials are found in Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea; throughout the Maluku Islands, Timor and Sulawesi to the west of New Guinea, and in the Bismarck Archipelago (including the Admiralty Islands) and Solomon Islands to the east of New Guinea.In the Americas, marsupials are found throughout South America, excluding the central/southern Andes and parts of Patagonia; and through Central America and south-central Mexico, with a single species (the Virginia opossum Didelphis virginiana) widespread in the eastern United States and along the Pacific coast.

Interaction with Europeans

The first American marsupial (and marsupial in general) that a European encountered was the common opossum. Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, commander of the Niña on Christopher Columbus’ first voyage in the late fifteenth century, collected a female opossum with young in her pouch off the South American coast. He presented them to the Spanish monarchs, though by then the young were lost and the female had died. The animal was noted for its strange pouch or “second belly”, and how the offspring reached the pouch was a mystery.BOOK, Krause WJ, Krause WA, The Opossum: Its Amazing Story, 2006, Dept. of Pathology of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, US, 978-0-9785999-0-4, 6, On the other hand, it was the Portuguese who first described Australasian marsupials. António Galvão, a Portuguese administrator in Ternate (1536–1540), wrote a detailed account of the northern common cuscus (Phalanger orientalis):{{blockquote|Some animals resemble ferrets, only a little bigger. They are called Kusus. They have a long tail with which they hang from the trees in which they live continuously, winding it once or twice around a branch. On their belly they have a pocket like an intermediate balcony; as soon as they give birth to a young one, they grow it inside there at a teat until it does not need nursing anymore. As soon as she has borne and nourished it, the mother becomes pregnant again.}}From the start of the 17th century, more accounts of marsupials arrived. For instance, a 1606 record of an animal, killed on the southern coast of New Guinea, described it as “in the shape of a dog, smaller than a greyhound”, with a snakelike “bare scaly tail” and hanging testicles. The meat tasted like venison, and the stomach contained ginger leaves. This description appears to closely resemble the dusky pademelon (Thylogale brunii), in which case this would be the earliest European record of a member of the kangaroo family (Macropodidae).BOOK, Dawson TJ, Kangaroos, 2012, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, US, 978-0-643-10625-3, 181, 2nd,

Taxonomy

Marsupials are taxonomically identified as members of mammalian infraclass Marsupialia, first described as a family under the order Pollicata by German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger in his 1811 work Prodromus Systematis Mammalium et Avium. However, James Rennie, author of The Natural History of Monkeys, Opossums and Lemurs (1838), pointed out that the placement of five different groups of mammals – monkeys, lemurs, tarsiers, aye-ayes and marsupials (with the exception of kangaroos, that were placed under the order Salientia) – under a single order (Pollicata) did not appear to have a strong justification. In 1816, French zoologist George Cuvier classified all marsupials under the order Marsupialia.BOOK, Martin WC, A General Introduction to the Natural History of Mammiferous Animals, 1841, Wright and Co. Printers, London, UK, 182–4,archive.org/stream/generalintroduct00martrich#page/182/mode/2up, BOOK, Jackson S, Groves C, Taxonomy of Australian Mammals, 2015, CSIRO Publishing, Australia, 978-1-4863-0014-3, 82–3,books.google.com/books?id=jvznCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT82, In 1997, researcher J. A. W. Kirsch and others accorded infraclass rank to Marsupialia.

Classification

Marsupialia is further divided as follows:{{MSW3 Gardner|pages=3–21}}{{extinct}} – Extinct Family †Thylacinidae: thylacine Family Dasyuridae: antechinuses, quolls, dunnarts, Tasmanian devil, and relatives Family Myrmecobiidae: numbat Family Notoryctidae: marsupial moles Family Thylacomyidae: bilbies Family †Chaeropodidae: pig-footed bandicoots Family Peramelidae: bandicoots and allies Family Vombatidae: wombats Family Phascolarctidae: koalas Family {{extinct}} Diprotodontidae: giant wombats Family {{extinct}} Palorchestidae: marsupial tapirs Family {{extinct}} Thylacoleonidae: marsupial lions Infraorder Phalangeriformes – see list of phalangeriformes* Family Acrobatidae: feathertail glider and feather-tailed possum* Family Burramyidae: pygmy possums* Family †Ektopodontidae: sprite possums* Family Petauridae: striped possum, Leadbeater’s possum, yellow-bellied glider, sugar glider, mahogany glider, squirrel glider* Family Phalangeridae: brushtail possums and cuscuses* Family Pseudocheiridae: ringtailed possums and relatives* Family Tarsipedidae: honey possum Infraorder Macropodiformes – see list of macropodiformes* Family Macropodidae: kangaroos, wallabies, and relatives* Family Potoroidae: potoroos, rat kangaroos, bettongs* Family Hypsiprymnodontidae: musky rat-kangaroo* Family {{extinct}} Balbaridae: basal quadrupedal kangaroos

Evolutionary history

{{See also|Metatheria|Evolution of Macropodidae|Evolution of mammals}}Comprising over 300 extant species, several attempts have been made to accurately interpret the phylogenetic relationships among the different marsupial orders. Studies differ on whether Didelphimorphia or Paucituberculata is the sister group to all other marsupials. Though the order Microbiotheria (which has only one species, the monito del monte) is found in South America, morphological similarities suggest it is closely related to Australian marsupials.JOURNAL, Szalay F, Archer M, A new appraisal of marsupial phylogeny and classification, Carnivorous Marsupials, 1982, 2, 621–40, Molecular analyses in 2010 and 2011 identified Microbiotheria as the sister group to all Australian marsupials. However, the relations among the four Australidelphid orders are not as well understood.{{cladogram 		LAST2=ESSELSTYN LAST3=JETZ DATE=2019 JOURNAL=PLOS BIOL ISSUE=12 DOI=10.1371/JOURNAL.PBIO.3000494 PMC=6892540 LAST2=ESSELSTYN LAST3=JETZ YEAR=2019 URL=HTTPS://GITHUB.COM/N8UPHAM/MAMPHY_V1/BLOB/MASTER/FIG6_COMPARE_TIPDRS/DR_ON4PHYLOSCOMPARED_LINEAR_RICHCOL_JUSTSCALE_OWNCOLORS_WITHTIPS_80IN.PDF VOLUME=17 PAGES= DOI-ACCESS=FREE LAST2=TAMURI LAST3=BATTINI LAST4=NASCIMENTO LAST5=CARLISLE LAST6=ASHER LAST7=YANG LAST8=DONOGHUE LAST9=DOS REIS YEAR=2022 JOURNAL=NATURE ISSUE=7896 DOI=10.1038/S41586-021-04341-1 BIBCODE=2022NATUR.602..263A URL=HTTPS://QMRO.QMUL.AC.UK/XMLUI/HANDLE/123456789/75979HDL-ACCESS=FREE, ÁLVAREZ-CARRETERO >FIRST1=SANDRA FIRST2=ASIF U. FIRST3=MATTEO FIRST4=FABRíCIA F. FIRST5=EMILY FIRST6=ROBERT J. FIRST7=ZIHENG FIRST8=PHILIP C.J. FIRST9=MARIO TITLE=4705SP_COLOURS_MAMMAL-TIME.TREE VOLUME= 602PAGES=263–267 PMID=34937052 S2CID=245438816 HDL=1983/DE841853-D57B-40D9-876F-9BFCF7253F12 {hide}clade|style=font-size:90%;line-height:80%;width:400px;|label1=Marsupialia|1={{clade
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}{| class=“wikitable”! colspan=1 | Cladogram of Marsupialia by Gallus et al. 2015JOURNAL, Gallus S, Janke A, Kumar V, Nilsson MA, Disentangling the relationship of the Australian marsupial orders using retrotransposon and evolutionary network analyses, Genome Biology and Evolution, 7, 4, 985–992, March 2015, 25786431, 4419798, 10.1093/gbe/evv052, {{barlabel|size=3|at1=-2|at2=3|label1=New World marsupials|label2=Australasian marsupials|style=font-size:100%;line-height 250%|label1=Marsupialia|1={{Clade
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|1=Peramelemorphia(File:Phylogenetic tree of marsupials derived from retroposon data (Paramelemorphia).png|60 px)|bar1=green
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}}}}DNA evidence supports a South American origin for marsupials, with Australian marsupials arising from a single Gondwanan migration of marsupials from South America, across Antarctica, to Australia.NEWS, Schiewe J, Australia’s marsupials originated in what is now South America, study says, Los Angeles Times, 28 July 2010,www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-marsupial-20100728,0,5549873.story, 1 August 2010,www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-marsupial-20100728%2C0%2C5549873.story," title="web.archive.org/web/20100801001045www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-marsupial-20100728%2C0%2C5549873.story,">web.archive.org/web/20100801001045www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-marsupial-20100728%2C0%2C5549873.story, 1 August 2010, live, JOURNAL, Nilsson MA, Churakov G, Sommer M, Tran NV, Zemann A, Brosius J, Schmitz J, Tracking marsupial evolution using archaic genomic retroposon insertions, PLOS Biology, 8, 7, e1000436, July 2010, 20668664, 2910653, 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000436, free, There are many small arboreal species in each group. The term “opossum” is used to refer to American species (though “possum” is a common abbreviation), while similar Australian species are properly called “possums”.File:Djarthia murgonensis.jpg|thumb|left|170px|upright|Isolated petrosals of Djarthia murgonensisDjarthia murgonensis(File:Animaldentition macropusgiganteus.png|170 px|left|thumb|Dentition of the herbivorous eastern grey kangaroo, as illustrated in Knight’s Sketches in Natural History)The relationships among the three extant divisions of mammals (monotremes, marsupials, and placentals) were long a matter of debate among taxonomists.BOOK, Moyal AM, Platypus: The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the World, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2004, 978-0-8018-8052-0, {{google books, y, 5DkezNMhSTYC, }} Most morphological evidence comparing traits such as number and arrangement of teeth and structure of the reproductive and waste elimination systems as well as most genetic and molecular evidence favors a closer evolutionary relationship between the marsupials and placental mammals than either has with the monotremes.JOURNAL, van Rheede T, Bastiaans T, Boone DN, Hedges SB, de Jong WW, Madsen O, The platypus is in its place: nuclear genes and indels confirm the sister group relation of monotremes and Therians, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 23, 3, 587–597, March 2006, 16291999, 10.1093/molbev/msj064, free, File:Phylogenetic tree of marsupials derived from retroposon data - journal.pbio.1000436.g002.png|thumb|Phylogenetic tree of marsupials derived from retroposonretroposonThe ancestors of marsupials, part of a larger group called metatherians, probably split from those of placental mammals (eutherians) during the mid-Jurassic period, though no fossil evidence of metatherians themselves are known from this time.JOURNAL, Luo ZX, Yuan CX, Meng QJ, Ji Q, A Jurassic eutherian mammal and divergence of marsupials and placentals, Nature, 476, 7361, 442–445, August 2011, 21866158, 10.1038/nature10291, 205225806, 2011Natur.476..442L, From DNA and protein analyses, the time of divergence of the two lineages has been estimated to be around 100 to 120 mya.BOOK, Tyndale-Biscoe H, Life of Marsupials, 2004, CSIRO, Collingwood, Australia, 978-0-643-06257-3, Fossil metatherians are distinguished from eutherians by the form of their teeth; metatherians possess four pairs of molar teeth in each jaw, whereas eutherian mammals (including true placentals) never have more than three pairs.BOOK, Benton MJ, 1997, Vertebrate Palaeontology, Chapman & Hall, London, 306, 978-0-412-73810-4, Using this criterion, the earliest known metatherian was thought to be Sinodelphys szalayi, which lived in China around 125 mya.NEWS, Rincon P,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3311911.stm, Oldest Marsupial Ancestor Found, BBC News, 12 December 2003, 16 March 2010, JOURNAL, Luo ZX, Ji Q, Wible JR, Yuan CX, An Early Cretaceous tribosphenic mammal and metatherian evolution, Science, 302, 5652, 1934–1940, December 2003, 14671295, 10.1126/science.1090718, 18032860, 2003Sci...302.1934L, JOURNAL, Hu Y, Meng J, Li C, Wang Y, New basal eutherian mammal from the Early Cretaceous Jehol biota, Liaoning, China, Proceedings. Biological Sciences, 277, 1679, 229–236, January 2010, 19419990, 2842663, 10.1098/rspb.2009.0203, However Sinodelphys was later reinterpreted as an early member of Eutheria. The unequivocal oldest known metatherians are now 110 million years old fossils from western North America.JOURNAL, Bi S, Zheng X, Wang X, Cignetti NE, Yang S, Wible JR, An Early Cretaceous eutherian and the placental-marsupial dichotomy, Nature, 558, 7710, 390–395, June 2018, 29899454, 10.1038/s41586-018-0210-3, 2018Natur.558..390B, 49183466, Metatherians were widespread in North America and Asia during the Late Cretaceous, but suffered a severe decline during the end-Cretaceous extinction event.JOURNAL, Bennett, C. Verity, Upchurch, Paul, Goin, Francisco J., Goswami, Anjali, 2018-02-06, Deep time diversity of metatherian mammals: implications for evolutionary history and fossil-record quality, Paleobiology, 44, 2, 171–198, 10.1017/pab.2017.34, 2018Pbio...44..171B, 46796692, 0094-8373, free, 11336/94590, free, Cladogram from Wilson et al. (2016)Wilson, G.P.; Ekdale, E.G.; Hoganson, J.W.; Calede, J.J.; Linden, A.V. (2016). “A large carnivorous mammal from the Late Cretaceous and the North American origin of marsupials”. Nature Communications. 7. {{doi|10.1038/ncomms13734}}.{hide}clade| style=font-size:85%; line-height:85%|label1=Metatheria|1={{clade
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|2={{clade
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|2={{clade
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|2={{clade
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|2={{clade
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|2=Aenigmadelphys
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|4={{clade
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}}In 2022, a study provided strong evidence that the earliest known marsupial was Deltatheridium known from specimens from the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous in Mongolia.JOURNAL, Velazco, Paúl M, Buczek, Alexandra J, Hoffman, Eva, Hoffman, Devin K, O’Leary, Maureen A, Novacek, Michael J, 30 January 2022, Combined data analysis of fossil and living mammals: a Paleogene sister taxon of Placentalia and the antiquity of Marsupialia, Cladistics (journal), Cladistics, 38, 3, 359–373, 10.1111/cla.12499, 35098586, 246429311,discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10178921/, This study placed both Deltatheridium and Pucadelphys as sister taxa to the modern large American opossums.Marsupials spread to South America from North America during the Paleocene, possibly via the Aves Ridge.BOOK, Kemp, Thomas Stainforth, 2005, The origin and evolution of mammals,doc.rero.ch/record/200125/files/PAL_E3904.pdf, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 217, 0-19-850760-7, JOURNAL, Boschman LM, van Hinsbergen DJ, Torsvik TH, Spakman W, Pindell JL, 23 August 2014, Kinematic reconstruction of the Caribbean region since the Early Jurassic, Earth-Science Reviews, 138, 102–136, 10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.08.007, 2014ESRv..138..102B, 10.1.1.727.4858, JOURNAL, Ali, Jason R., Hedges, S. Blair, November 2021, Hoorn, Carina, Colonizing the Caribbean: New geological data and an updated land-vertebrate colonization record challenge the GAARlandia land-bridge hypothesis, Journal of Biogeography, en, 48, 11, 2699–2707, 10.1111/jbi.14234, 238647106, 0305-0270, free, Northern Hemisphere metatherians, which were of low morphological and species diversity compared to contemporary placental mammals, eventually became extinct during the Miocene epoch.JOURNAL, Eldridge, Mark D B, Beck, Robin M D, Croft, Darin A, Travouillon, Kenny J, Fox, Barry J, 2019-05-23, An emerging consensus in the evolution, phylogeny, and systematics of marsupials and their fossil relatives (Metatheria),academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/100/3/802/5498022, Journal of Mammalogy, en, 100, 3, 802–837, 10.1093/jmammal/gyz018, 0022-2372, In South America, the opossums evolved and developed a strong presence, and the Paleogene also saw the evolution of shrew opossums (Paucituberculata) alongside non-marsupial metatherian predators such as the borhyaenids and the saber-toothed Thylacosmilus. South American niches for mammalian carnivores were dominated by these marsupial and sparassodont metatherians, which seem to have competitively excluded South American placentals from evolving carnivory.JOURNAL, Simpson GG, George Gaylord Simpson, History of the Fauna of Latin America, American Scientist, 38, 3, 361–389; see p. 368, July 1950,www.wku.edu/~smithch/biogeog/SIMP1950.htm, 27826322, 2020-01-21, While placental predators were absent, the metatherians did have to contend with avian (terror bird) and terrestrial crocodylomorph competition. Marsupials were excluded in turn from large herbivore niches in South America by the presence of native placental ungulates (now extinct) and xenarthrans (whose largest forms are also extinct). South America and Antarctica remained connected until 35 mya, as shown by the unique fossils found there. North and South America were disconnected until about three million years ago, when the Isthmus of Panama formed. This led to the Great American Interchange. Sparassodonts disappeared for unclear reasons – again, this has classically assumed as competition from carnivoran placentals, but the last sparassodonts co-existed with a few small carnivorans like procyonids and canines, and disappeared long before the arrival of macropredatory forms like felines,JOURNAL, The Evolution of the Cenozoic Terrestrial Mammalian Predator Guild in South America: Competition or Replacement?, Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 20, 3–21, 10.1007/s10914-011-9175-9, 2011, Prevosti FJ, Forasiepi A, Zimicz N, 11336/2663, 15751319, free, while didelphimorphs (opossums) invaded Central America, with the Virginia opossum reaching as far north as Canada.Marsupials reached Australia via Antarctica during the Early Eocene, around 50 mya, shortly after Australia had split off.{{refn|group=n|This is supported by the find of Eocene fossil remains of an australidelphian, the microbiotherian Woodburnodon casei, on the Antarctic peninsula,JOURNAL, Goin FJ, Zimicz N, Reguero MA, Santillana SN, Marenssi SA, Moly JJ, New marsupial (Mammalia) from the Eocene of Antarctica, and the origins and affinities of the Microbiotheria, Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina, 62, 4, 597–603, 2007,www.researchgate.net/publication/262722641, 2016-07-17, }}{{refn|group=n|Ratites may have similarly traveled overland from South America to colonise Australia;JOURNAL, Yonezawa T, Segawa T, Mori H, Campos PF, Hongoh Y, Endo H, Akiyoshi A, Kohno N, Nishida S, Wu J, Jin H, Adachi J, Kishino H, Kurokawa K, Nogi Y, Tanabe H, Mukoyama H, Yoshida K, Rasoamiaramanana A, Yamagishi S, Hayashi Y, Yoshida A, Koike H, Akishinonomiya F, Willerslev E, Hasegawa M, 6, Phylogenomics and Morphology of Extinct Paleognaths Reveal the Origin and Evolution of the Ratites, Current Biology, 27, 1, 68–77, January 2017, 27989673, 10.1016/j.cub.2016.10.029, free, a fossil ratite is known from Antarctica,JOURNAL, Tambussi CP, Noriega JI, Gaździcki A, Tatur A, Reguero MA, Vizcaíno SF, Ratite bird from the Paleogene La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island, Antarctica, Polish Polar Research, 15, 1–2, 15–20, 1994,polar.pan.pl/ppr15/1994-1-2_015-020.pdf, 28 December 2019, 28 December 2019,polar.pan.pl/ppr15/1994-1-2_015-020.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20191228235043polar.pan.pl/ppr15/1994-1-2_015-020.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20191228235043polar.pan.pl/ppr15/1994-1-2_015-020.pdf, dead, and South American rheas are more basal within the group than Australo-Pacific ratites.}} This suggests a single dispersion event of just one species, most likely a relative to South America’s monito del monte (a microbiothere, the only New World australidelphian). This progenitor may have rafted across the widening, but still narrow, gap between Australia and Antarctica. The journey must not have been easy; South American ungulateBOOK, Bond M, Reguero MA, Vizcaíno SF, Marenssi SA, 2006, A new ‘South American ungulate’ (Mammalia: Litopterna) from the Eocene of the Antarctic Peninsula, Francis JE, Pirrie D, Crame JA, Cretaceous-tertiary high-latitude palaeoenvironments: James Ross Basin, Antarctica, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, The Geological Society of London, 258, 1, 163–176, 10.1144/GSL.SP.2006.258.01.12,www.researchgate.net/publication/249551916_A_new_%27South_American_ungulate%27_Mammalia_Litopterna_from_the_Eocene_of_the_Antarctic_Peninsula, 2006GSLSP.258..163B, 140546667, JOURNAL, Bond M, Kramarz A, Macphee RD, Reguero M, A new astrapothere (Mammalia, Meridiungulata) from La Meseta Formation, Seymour (Marambio) Island, and a reassessment of previous records of Antarctic astrapotheres, 2011, American Museum Novitates, 3718, 1–16,digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/6118/1/N3718.pdf, 10.1206/3718.2, free, 11336/98139, 58908785, dead,digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/handle/2246/6118/N3718.pdf;jsessionid=841BDC1267FD7DC21E8503D6930DA614?sequence=1," title="web.archive.org/web/20120917125657digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/handle/2246/6118/N3718.pdf;jsessionid=841BDC1267FD7DC21E8503D6930DA614?sequence=1,">web.archive.org/web/20120917125657digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/handle/2246/6118/N3718.pdf;jsessionid=841BDC1267FD7DC21E8503D6930DA614?sequence=1, Sep 17, 2012, JOURNAL, Gelfo JN, Mörs T, Lorente M, López GM, Reguero M, The oldest mammals from Antarctica, early Eocene of the La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island, Palaeontology, 58, 1, 2014-07-16, 101–110, 10.1111/pala.12121,urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:nrm:diva-922, free, live,nrm.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:768107," title="web.archive.org/web/20230405191308nrm.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:768107,">web.archive.org/web/20230405191308nrm.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:768107, Apr 5, 2023, and xenarthranJOURNAL, Davis SN, Torres CR, Musser GM, Proffitt JV, Crouch NM, Lundelius EL, Lamanna MC, Clarke JA, 6, New mammalian and avian records from the late Eocene La Meseta and Submeseta formations of Seymour Island, Antarctica, PeerJ, 8, e8268, 2020, 31942255, 6955110, 10.7717/peerj.8268, free, remains have been found in Antarctica, but these groups did not reach Australia.In Australia, marsupials radiated into the wide variety seen today, including not only omnivorous and carnivorous forms such as were present in South America, but also into large herbivores. Modern marsupials appear to have reached the islands of New Guinea and Sulawesi relatively recently via Australia.BOOK, Dawkins R, The Ancestor’s Tale : A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution, Mariner Books, Boston, 2005, 223, 978-0-618-61916-0, {{google books, y, rR9XPnaqvCMC, 223, }}BOOK, Hand SJ, Long J, Archer M, Flannery TF, Prehistoric mammals of Australia and New Guinea: one hundred million years of evolution, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2002, 978-0-8018-7223-5, {{google books, y, 92yhnRHdxSoC, }}BOOK, Kemp, T.S., The origin and evolution of mammals, Oxford University Press, Oxford [Oxfordshire], 2005, 978-0-19-850761-1, A 2010 analysis of retroposon insertion sites in the nuclear DNA of a variety of marsupials has confirmed all living marsupials have South American ancestors. The branching sequence of marsupial orders indicated by the study puts Didelphimorphia in the most basal position, followed by Paucituberculata, then Microbiotheria, and ending with the radiation of Australian marsupials. This indicates that Australidelphia arose in South America, and reached Australia after Microbiotheria split off.In Australia, terrestrial placental mammals disappeared early in the Cenozoic (their most recent known fossils being 55 million-year-old teeth resembling those of condylarths) for reasons that are not clear, allowing marsupials to dominate the Australian ecosystem. Extant native Australian terrestrial placental mammals (such as hopping mice) are relatively recent immigrants, arriving via island hopping from Southeast Asia.Genetic analysis suggests a divergence date between the marsupials and the placentals at {{Ma|160}}.Graves JA, Renfree MB (2013) Marsupials in the age of genomics. Annu Rev Genom Hum Genet The ancestral number of chromosomes has been estimated to be 2n = 14.A recent hypothesis suggests that South American microbiotheres resulted from a back-dispersal from eastern Gondwana. This interpretation is based on new cranial and post-cranial marsupial fossils of Djarthia murgonensis from the early Eocene Tingamarra Local Fauna in Australia that indicate this species is the most plesiomorphic ancestor, the oldest unequivocal australidelphian, and may be the ancestral morphotype of the Australian marsupial radiation.In 2023, imaging of a partial skeleton found in Australia by paleontologists from Flinders University led to the identification of Ambulator keanei, the first long-distance walker in Australia.NEWS, The Guardian, en-GB, Meet Australia’s first long-distance walker: a 250kg marsupial with ‘heeled hands’, Lu, Donna, 2023-05-30, 2023-05-31,www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/31/meet-australias-first-long-distance-walker-a-250kg-marsupial-with-heeled-hands,

See also

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Notes

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References

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Further reading

  • BOOK, Austin CR, Short RV, Reproduction in Mammals: Volume 4, Reproductive Fitness, {{google books, y, P5Al0X60UAIC&pg=PR4, |date=21 March 1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-31984-3|pages=4–}}
  • BOOK, Bronson FH, Mammalian Reproductive Biology, {{google books, y, UmZmmW7DghMC, |year=1989|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-07559-4}}
  • BOOK, Dawson TJ, Kangaroos: Biology of the Largest Marsupials, {{google books, y, KNxIlprcmTYC, |year=1995|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-8262-5}}
  • BOOK, Flannery TF, Tim Flannery, The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People, {{google books, y, eIW5aktgo0IC, 67, |year=2002|publisher=Grove Press|isbn=978-0-8021-3943-6|pages=67–75}}
  • BOOK, Flannery TF, Chasing kangaroos : a continent, a scientist, and a search for the world’s most extraordinary creature., 2008, Grove, New York, 9780802143716, 1st American,
  • BOOK, Flannery TF, Country : a continent, a scientist & a kangaroo, 2005, Text Pub., Melbourne, 978-1-920885-76-2, 2nd,
  • Frith, H. J. and J. H. Calaby. Kangaroos. New York: Humanities Press, 1969.
  • BOOK, McKay G, The Encyclopedia of MAMMALS., {{google books, y, XHHoM3_gCVgC, |year=2006|publisher=Weldon Owen|isbn=978-1-74089-352-7}}
  • BOOK, Hunsaker D, The Biology of Marsupials, New York, Academic Press, 1977,
  • BOOK, Johnson MH, Everitt BJ, Essential Reproduction, {{google books, y, vH-_6ZI8PgkC, |year=1988|publisher=Blackwell Scientific|isbn=978-0-632-02183-3}}
  • BOOK, Jones M, Dickman C, Archer, Predators with pouches : the biology of carnivorous marsupials, 2003, Australia), Collingwood, Victoria, 9780643066342,books.google.com/books?id=3YQSDiWHfD0C,
  • ENCYCLOPEDIA, Knobill E, Neill JD, Encyclopedia of Reproduction, 3, New York, Academic Press, 1998,
  • BOOK, McCullough DR, McCullough Y, Kangaroos in Outback Australia: Comparative Ecology and Behavior of Three Coexisting Species, {{google books, y, WoHz4roGke8C, |year=2000|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-11916-0}}
  • BOOK, Nowak RM, Walker’s Mammals of the World, {{google books, y, T37sFCl43E8C, |date=7 April 1999|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-5789-8}}
  • JOURNAL, 10.1071/ZO97038, Taylor AC, Taylor P, 1997, Sex of Pouch Young Related to Maternal Weight in Macropus eugeni and M. parma, Australian Journal of Zoology, 45, 6, 573–578,

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