ameridelphia
{{Short description|Superorder of marsupials}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Ameridelphia
| image = Young Virginia Opossum.jpg
| image_caption = A Virginia opossum
| taxon = Ameridelphia
| subdivision_ranks = Subgroups
| subdivision =
}}
Ameridelphia is traditionally a superorder that includes all marsupials living in the Americas except for the monito del monte (Dromiciops). It is now regarded as a paraphyletic group.{{Cite web|last=Schiewe |first=Jessie |title=Australia's marsupials originated in what is now South America, study says |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2010-07-28 |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-marsupial-20100728,0,5549873.story |access-date=2010-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100801001045/http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-marsupial-20100728%2C0%2C5549873.story |archive-date=1 August 2010 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal | last = Nilsson | first = M. A. |author2=Churakov, G.|author3= Sommer, M.|author4=Van Tran, N.|author5=Zemann, A.|author6=Brosius, J.|author7= Schmitz, J. | title = Tracking Marsupial Evolution Using Archaic Genomic Retroposon Insertions | journal = PLOS Biology | volume = 8 | issue = 7 | pages = e1000436 | publisher = Public Library of Science | date = 2010-07-27 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000436 | pmid=20668664 | pmc=2910653 | doi-access = free }}
Orders
The orders within this group are listed below:
- Order Didelphimorphia (108 species)
- Family Didelphidae: opossums
- Order Paucituberculata (7 species)
- Family Caenolestidae: shrew opossums
Evolution and phylogenetics
Modern marsupials are now understood to be an originally South American lineage that later reached Australia and diversified there in a massive adaptive radiation. Molecular data, including analysis of retrotransposon insertion sites in the nuclear DNA of a variety of marsupials, and the fossil evidence indicate that Ameridelphia might best be understood as an evolutionary grade. Since Didelphimorphia appears to be the basal marsupial group, it and Paucituberculata do not seem to be closest relatives. Meanwhile, the unranked clade Eomarsupialia has been proposed as the name for the Australian marsupials (Australidelphia minus Microbiotheria, of which Dromiciops is the only survivor), which in all probability derive from a single colonization out of South America via Antarctica.{{cite journal |last1=Beck |first1=R. M. D. |last2=Travouillon |first2=K. J. |last3=Aplin |first3=K. P. |last4=Godthelp |first4=H. |last5=Archer |first5=M. |title=The Osteology and Systematics of the Enigmatic Australian Oligo-Miocene Metatherian Yalkaparidon (Yalkaparidontidae; Yalkaparidontia; ?Australidelphia; Marsupialia) |journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution |date=2014 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=127–172 |doi=10.1007/s10914-013-9236-3|s2cid=18490996 |url=https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/33350/1/Beck_et_al_%282014%29_Yalkaparidon.pdf }}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Metatheria|M.|state=autocollapse}}
{{Mammals|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q384427}}
{{-}}
Category:Marsupials of North America
Category:Marsupials of Central America
Category:Marsupials of South America
Category:Early Cretaceous mammals
Category:Cretaceous mammals of North America
Category:Cretaceous mammals of South America
Category:Cenozoic mammals of North America