Search results
New World
- Fossil evidence indicates clearly that marsupials originated in the New World. The oldest known marsupial fossils (which have been found in both China and North America) date from approximately 125 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period (145 to 66 million years ago).
www.britannica.com › animal › marsupial
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.
- Yalkaparidontia
These specimens of Yalkaparidon exhibit a melange of...
- Marsupial Moles
Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae / n oʊ t ə ˈ r ɪ k t ɪ d...
- Thylacoleonidae
Thylacoleonidae is a family of extinct carnivorous...
- Ektopodon
Ektopodon is an extinct genus of marsupial, and is the type...
- Pouch
Kangaroo joey inside the pouch Female eastern grey kangaroo...
- Thylacine
The thylacine (/ ˈ θ aɪ l ə s iː n /; binomial name...
- List of monotremes and marsupials
List of monotremes and marsupials. The class Mammalia...
- Yalkaparidontia
People also ask
What are Australian marsupials?
Where did marsupials come from?
What is a marsupial mammal?
Are marsupials extinct?
Sep 13, 2024 · marsupial, any of more than 250 species belonging to the infraclass Metatheria (sometimes called Marsupialia), a mammalian group characterized by premature birth and continued development of the newborn while attached to the nipples on the mother’s lower belly.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- A marsupial is a mammal that belongs to the infraclass Metatheria, which is sometimes called Marsupialia. There are more than 250 marsupial species...
- There are more than 250 species of marsupials. Examples of marsupials include but are not limited to kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, the koala, the...
- Some 200 species of marsupials are found in Australia, New Guinea, and neighbouring islands. Some 70 species live in the Americas, mainly in South...
- Because marsupials are born in vulnerable embryonic conditions, pouches provide shelter, warmth, and nourishment to the developing young. Pouches c...
List of monotremes and marsupials. The class Mammalia (mammals) is divided into two subclasses based on reproductive techniques: egg-laying mammals (yinotherians or monotremes - see also Australosphenida), and mammals which give live birth (therians). The latter subclass is divided into two infraclasses: pouched mammals (metatherians or ...
Marsupials evolved before the southern supercontinent Gondwana broke off from Pangaea 100 million years ago. Early marsupial fossils have been found in Asia, from 125 million years ago. [3][4][5]
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.
Metatheria is a mammalian clade that includes all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. First proposed by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1880, it is a more inclusive group than the marsupials; it contains all marsupials as well as many extinct non-marsupial relatives.
Marsupials are native to Australia, New Guinea, Tasmania, and the Americas. There are over 330 species of marsupials, with most (over 200 species) native to Australia and nearby islands to the north. They are the dominant mammals in Australia, which have almost no native placental mammals.
