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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