Herpetotheriidae
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous - Miocene 66–20 Ma [1]
Herpetotherium
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Marsupialiformes
Family: †Herpetotheriidae
Trouessart, 1879
Genera

See text.

Synonyms

Herpetotheriinae

Herpetotheriidae is an extinct family of metatherians, closely related to marsupials.[1] Species of this family are generally reconstructed as terrestrial, and are considered morphologically similar to modern opossums.[2] Fossils of herpetotheriids come from North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and perhaps South America. The oldest representative is Maastrichtidelphys from the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of the Netherlands[3] and the youngest member is Amphiperatherium from the Middle Miocene of Europe.[4] The group has been suggested to be paraphyletic, with an analysis of petrosal anatomy finding that North American Herpetotherium was more closely related to marsupials than the European Peratherium and Amphiperatherium.[5]

The family includes the following genera:[6]

The following genera have been placed in the family, but their placement is disputed or obsolete:

References

  1. ^ a b Asher et al. 2007, p. 318.
  2. ^ Asher et al. 2007, p. 322.
  3. ^ Martin et al. 2005, p. 497; Asher et al. 2007, p. 318.
  4. ^ Mörs, von der Hocht & Wutzler 2000, p. 159.
  5. ^ Ladevèze, Sandrine; Selva, Charlène; de Muizon, Christian (2020-09-01). "What are "opossum-like" fossils? The phylogeny of herpetotheriid and peradectid metatherians, based on new features from the petrosal anatomy". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (17): 1463–1479. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1772387. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 221060039.
  6. ^ McKenna & Bell 1997, pp. 69–70.
  7. ^ Crochet et al. 2007, pp. 634–635.
  8. ^ Thomas E. Williamson; Donald L. Lofgren (2014). "Late Paleocene (Tiffanian) metatherians from the Goler Formation, California". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34 (2): 477–482. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.804413.
  9. ^ Martin et al. 2005.
  10. ^ Case, Goin & Woodburne 2005, pp. 473–482.
  11. ^ Hooker et al. 2008.
  12. ^ Crespo, Vicente D.; Goin, Francisco J.; Pickford, Martin (2022-03-06). "The last African metatherian". Fossil Record. 25 (1): 173–186. doi:10.3897/fr.25.80706. hdl:10362/151025. ISSN 2193-0074. S2CID 249349445.
  13. ^ Hooker et al. 2008, p. 635.
  14. ^ Crochet et al. 2007, p. 635.
  15. ^ Smith et al. 2007, p. 1008.
  16. ^ Goin & Candela 2004, p. 18.

Literature cited


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