Pucadelphys

{{speciesbox

| fossil_range = Early Paleocene (Tiupampan)
~{{fossil range|66|61.7}}

| image = Pucadelphys fossils.jpg

| image_caption = Fossils from Bolivia

| genus = Pucadelphys

| parent_authority = Marshall & De Muizon, 1988

| species = andinus

| authority = Marshall & De Muizon, 1988

}}

Pucadelphys is an extinct genus of non-marsupial metatherian.Guillermo W. Rougier, John R. Wible and Michael J. Novacek. First Implications of Deltatheridium specimens for early marsupial history, Nature 396, 459-463(3 December 1998)S. Bi, X. Jin, S. Li and T. Du. 2015. A new Cretaceous metatherian mammal from Henan, China. PeerJ 3:e896Guillermo Rougier, New specimen of Deltatheroides cretacicus (Metatheria, Deltatheroida) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia, BULLETIN OF CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 36(DEC 2004):245-266 · SEPTEMBER 2009Guillermo W. Rougier; Brian M. Davis; Michael J. Novacek (2015). "A deltatheroidan mammal from the Upper Cretaceous Baynshiree Formation, eastern Mongolia". Cretaceous Research. 52, Part A: 167–177. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2014.09.009. The genus contains a single species, P. andinus. Fossils of Pucadelphys have been found in the Santa Lucía Formation in Tiupampa in Bolivia.[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=246332 Pucadelphys] at Fossilworks.org

Description

Pucadelphys was small and likely to have eaten insects. It had a long tail, although incomplete on the best preserved fossils. It is possible that the tail was longer than (or at least as long as) its body. 17 vertebrae were preserved, and its estimated that there was 5 to 10 additional vertebrae originally. It is regarded as partially arboreal, and partially terrestrial. It may have been social, as more than 30 specimens have been found together.{{cite episode|title=How South America Made the Marsupials|series=PBS Eons|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5doyrUWFbE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/l5doyrUWFbE |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}

Taxonomy

A 2016 phylogenetic analysis recovered Pucadelphys as a member of a metatherian clade including sparassodonts and other South American taxa, but not marsupials (which are instead closer to Cretaceous North American species). The phylogenetic tree from the analysis is shown below.{{cite journal | title = A large carnivorous mammal from the Late Cretaceous and the North American origin of marsupials | journal = Nature Communications | volume = 7 | pages = 13734 | date = 2016 | first1 = G.P. | last1 = Wilson | first2 = E.G. | last2 = Ekdale | first3 = J.W. | last3 = Hoganson | first4 = J.J. | last4 = Calede | first5 = A.V.| last5 = Linden | doi = 10.1038/ncomms13734 | pmid = 27929063 | pmc = 5155139 | bibcode = 2016NatCo...713734W }}

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