Herpetotheriidae

Herpetotheriidae
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous - Miocene 66–20 Ma

[1]

Herpetotherium
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Metatheria
Family: Herpetotheriidae
Trouessart, 1879
Genera

See text.

Synonyms

Herpetotheriinae

Herpetotheriidae is an extinct family of metatherians. Although sometimes placed in the living opossum family (Didelphidae, as a subfamily Herpetotheriinae), they may form the sister clade to all living marsupials.[1] Species of this family are generally reconstructed as terrestrial.[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 family includes the following genera:[5]

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

References

  1. 1 2 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. ↑ McKenna & Bell 1997, pp. 69–70.
  6. ↑ Crochet et al. 2007, pp. 634–635.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ Martin et al. 2005.
  9. ↑ Case, Goin & Woodburne 2005, pp. 473–482.
  10. ↑ Hooker et al. 2008.
  11. ↑ Hooker et al. 2008, p. 635.
  12. ↑ Crochet et al. 2007, p. 635.
  13. ↑ Smith et al. 2007, p. 1008.
  14. ↑ Goin & Candela 2004, p. 18.

Literature cited

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