List of adaptive radiated marsupials by form
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This is a list of adaptive radiated marsupials by form; they are adaptively radiated marsupial species equivalent to the many niche-types of non-marsupial mammals. Many of the surviving species are from Australia. There are unique types, for example the extinct genus Nototherium, a 'rhinoceros-type'.Wilson, Eisner, Briggs, Dickerson, Metzenberg, O'Brien, Susman, & Boggs. Life on Earth, Chapter: Biogeography, Graphic: Adaptive Radiation of Marsupials, p. 854-855.
The new world has the common opossum, also a unique form.Wilson, Eisner, Briggs, Dickerson, Metzenberg, O'Brien, Susman, & Boggs. Life on Earth, Chapter: Biogeography, Graphic: Adaptive Radiation of Marsupials, p. 854-855.
Even before the mid-19th century and Charles Darwin's time, biogeographers understood speciation and animal niches. A supreme example that became known to Darwin as sailing ships traveled the world is the New Zealand flightless, ground-dwelling, worm-eating kiwi, a bird, but a species in a mammal-niche.
Anteater-like
1 genus–(monotypic)
(2 subspecies)
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colspan="5" align="center" |Anteater-like marsupials |
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Taxa
! Presence ! Notes ! Images |
Marsupial: (anteater-like)
| Western Australia | | rowspan="99" | File:Numbat.jpg, also called0 the banded anteater]] |
Cat-like
1 genus–(6 species)
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colspan="5" align="center" |Cat-like marsupials |
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Taxa
! Presence ! Notes ! Images |
Marsupial: (cat-like)
| Australia, New Guinea | | rowspan="99" | |
Groundhog-like
6 genera
2 surviving genera
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colspan="5" align="center" |Groundhog-like marsupials |
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Taxa
! Presence ! Notes ! Images |
Marsupial: (groundhog-like)
| | | rowspan="99" | |
Mole-like
1 genus–(2 species)
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colspan="5" align="center" |Mole-like marsupials |
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Taxa
! Presence ! Notes ! Images |
Marsupial: (mole-like)
| | | rowspan="99" | |
Rhinoceros-like
1 genus
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colspan="5" align="center" |Rhinoceros-like marsupials |
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Taxa
! Presence ! Notes ! Images |
Marsupial: (rhinoceros-like)
| Extinct | | rowspan="99" | |
Panther-like
6 genera
class="wikitable" align="center" width="100%" |
colspan="5" align="center" |Panther-like marsupials |
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Taxa
! Presence ! Notes ! Images |
Marsupial: (panther-like)
:Subfamily Wakaleoninae :Genus †Wakaleo
:Subfamily Thylacoleoninae :Genus †Thylacoleo
|Extinct | | rowspan="99" | |
Flying Squirrel-like
1 genus–(6 species)
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colspan="5" align="center" |Flying Squirrel-like marsupials |
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Taxa
! Presence ! Notes ! Images |
Marsupial: (flying squirrel-like)
| | | rowspan="99" | |
Canine-like
1 genus–(1 species)
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colspan="5" align="center" |canine-like marsupials |
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Taxa
! Presence ! Notes ! Images |
Marsupial: (canine-like)
| Extinct | | rowspan="99" | File:Thylacinus.jpg, also called Tasmanian wolf or tiger]] |
Hyena-like
1 genus–(1 species)
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colspan="5" align="center" |Hyena-like marsupials |
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Taxa
! Presence ! Notes ! Images |
Marsupial: (hyena-like)
| Extirpated | | rowspan="99" | |
Deer-like
- - Family Macropodidae
Unique: opossum-like
? species
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colspan="5" align="center" |Unique—Opossum-like marsupials |
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Taxa
! Presence ! Notes ! Images |
Marsupial: (opossum-like)
| | | rowspan="99" | |
See also
{{Portal|Evolutionary biology|Australia}}
References
{{Commons category|Marsupialia}}
{{reflist}}
- Wilson, Eisner, Briggs, Dickerson, Metzenberg, O'Brien, Susman, & Boggs. Life on Earth, Edward O. Wilson, Thomas Eisner, Winslow R. Briggs, Richard E. Dickerson, Robert L. Metzenberg, Richard D. O'Brien, Millard Susman, William E. Boggs, c 1973, Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publisher, Stamford, Connecticut. 1033 pp, 19 p Index & Back Page (hardcover, {{ISBN|0-87893-934-2}})
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