Dasyuromorphia
Taxon of carnivorous marsupials
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Dasyuromorphia (/dæsijʊəroʊˈmɔːrfiə/) is an order comprising most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials. The order contains four families: Myrmecobiidae, with just a single living species, the numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), Thylacinidae, with one recently extinct species, the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) and several fossil species, Dasyuridae, with 73 extant species, including quolls, dunnarts, and the Tasmanian devil, and the extinct fossil family Malleodectidae with one genus.
| Dasyuromorphia Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Clockwise from top left: thylacine, Tasmanian devil, numbat, fat-tailed dunnart, yellow-footed antechinus and tiger quoll | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Clade: | Agreodontia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia Gill, 1872 |
| Families | |
Description
The body size of dasyuromorphs varies considerably, from only 4 grams (0.14 oz) in long-tailed planigale, which is the smallest living marsupial, up to 35 kilograms (77 lb) in the recently extinct thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). They show considerable morphological diversity, including the kultarr (Antechinomys laniger), which is adapted for hopping locomotion.[2] Members of the group are mostly carnivorous, either feeding on vertebrate prey or arthropods like insects.[3] The lower molar teeth of dasyuromorphs typically show a carnassial-like morphology.[4]
Phylogeny
Overall phylogeny of Dasyuromorphia (greatly truncated) after Kealy et al. 2017:[2]
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| Upham et al. 2019[5][6] | Álvarez-Carretero et al. 2022[7][8] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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