Microbiotheriidae

Microbiotheriidae
Temporal range: Early Paleocene–Recent
Dromiciops gliroides
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Superorder: Australidelphia
Order: Microbiotheria
Family: Microbiotheriidae
Ameghino, 1887
Type genus
Microbiotherium
Ameghino, 1887
Genera

Microbiotheriidae is a family of australidelphian marsupials represented by only one extant species, the monito del monte, and a number of extinct species known from fossils in South America, Western Antarctica, and northeastern Australia.[1]

Microbiotheriids were once thought to be members of the order Didelphimorphia (which contains the Virginia opossum); however, an accumulation of both anatomical and genetic evidence in recent years has led to the conclusion that microbiotheriids and other microbiotheres are not didelphids at all, but are instead most closely related to the Australasian marsupials; together, the microbiotheres and the Australian orders form the clade Australidelphia which are now thought to have first evolved in the South American region of Gondwana.

  1. ^ Gardner, A.L. (2005). "Family Microbiotheriidae (p. 21)". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.