Dasyuromorphia

Dasyuromorphia
Temporal range: Late Oligocene–Present
Clockwise from top left: thylacine, Tasmanian devil, numbat, fat-tailed dunnart, yellow-footed antechinus and tiger quoll
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Clade: Agreodontia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Gill, 1872
Families

Dasyuromorphia (/dæsijʊərˈmɔːrfiə/, meaning "hairy tail"[2] in Greek) is an order comprising most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the numbat, the Tasmanian devil, and the extinct thylacine. In Australia, the exceptions include the omnivorous bandicoots (order Peramelemorphia) and the marsupial moles (which eat meat but are very different and are now accorded an order of their own, Notoryctemorphia). Numerous South American species of marsupials (orders Didelphimorphia, Paucituberculata, and Microbiotheria) are also carnivorous, as were some extinct members of the order Diprotodontia, including extinct kangaroos (such as Ekaltadeta and Propleopus) and thylacoleonids, and some members of the partially extinct clade Metatheria and all members of the extinct superorder Sparassodonta.

The order contains four families: one with just a single living species (the numbat), two with only extinct species (including the thylacine and Malleodectes), and one, the Dasyuridae, with 73 extant species.

  1. ^ Archer, M.; Hand, S. J.; Black, K. H.; Beck, R. M. D.; Arena, D. A.; Wilson, L. A. B.; Kealy, S.; Hung, T.-t. (2016-05-27). "A new family of bizarre durophagous carnivorous marsupials from Miocene deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland". Scientific Reports. 6: 26911. Bibcode:2016NatSR...626911A. doi:10.1038/srep26911. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 4882580. PMID 27229325.
  2. ^ Mammalian Lexicon