Metatheria - WikiHQ

Metatheria is a mammalian clade that includes all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. First proposed by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1880, it is a more inclusive group than the marsupials; it contains all marsupials as well as many extinct non-marsupial relatives. It is one of two groups placed in the clade Theria alongside Eutheria, which contains the placentals. Remains of metatherians have been found on all of Earth's continents.

Description

Distinctive characteristics (synapomorphies) of Metatheria include a prehensile tail, the development of a capitular tail on the humerus, the loss of tooth replacement on the second and fifth premolars, lower canines that outwardly diverge from each other, an angular process on the dentary bone—which additionally bears a posterior shelf in its masseteric fossa in Metatheria—that is equal to or greater than the length of the ramus, and the lower fifth premolar with a "very trenchant" Most morphological evidence comparing traits, such as the number and arrangement of teeth and the structure of the reproductive and waste elimination systems, favors a closer evolutionary relationship between marsupials and placental mammals than either has with the monotremes, as does most genetic and molecular evidence.

The earliest possible known metatherian is Sinodelphys szalayi, which lived in China during the Early Cretaceous around 125 million years ago (mya). This makes it a contemporary to some early eutherian species that have been found in the same area. However, Bi et al. (2018) reinterpreted Sinodelphys as an early member of Eutheria. The oldest uncontested metatherians are now 110 million year old fossils from western North America.

Morphological and species diversity of metatherians in Laurasia remained low in comparison to eutherians throughout the Cenozoic. The two major groups of Cenozoic Laurasian metatherians, the opossum-like herpetotheriids and peradectids persisted into the Miocene before becoming extinct, with the North American herpetotheriid Herpetotherium, the European herpetotheriid Amphiperatherium and the peradectids Siamoperadectes and Sinoperadectes from Asia being the youngest Laurasian non-marsupial metatherians (with marsupials invading North America during the Pliocene-Pleistocene as part of the Great American interchange).

Metatherians arrived in South America from North America during the latest Cretaceous or Paleocene and underwent a major diversificiation, with South American metatherians including both the ancestors of extant marsupials as well as the extinct Sparassodonta, which were major predators in South American ecosystems during most of the Cenozoic, up until their extinction in the Pliocene, as well as the Polydolopimorphia, which likely had a wide range of diets.

Cladogram according to Ladevèze et al. 2020:

Below is a listing of metatherians that do not fall readily into well-defined groups.

Basal Metatheria

†Archaeonothos henkgodthelpi Beck 2015
†Esteslestes ensis Novacek et al. 1991
†Ghamidtherium dimaiensis Sánches-Villagra et al. 2007
†Kasserinotherium tunisiense Crochet 1989
†Palangania brandmayri Goin et al. 1998
†Perrodelphys coquinense Goin et al. 1999

Ameridelphia incertae sedis:

†Apistodon exiguus (Fox 1971) Davis 2007
†Cocatherium lefipanum Goin et al. 2006
†Dakotadens morrowi Eaton 1993
†Iugomortiferum thoringtoni Cifelli 1990b
†Marambiotherium glacialis Goin et al. 1999
†Marmosopsis juradoi Paula Couto 1962 [Marmosopsini Kirsch & Palma 1995]
†Pascualdelphys fierroensis
†Progarzonia notostylopense Ameghino 1904
†Protalphadon Cifelli 1990
†P. lulli (Clemens 1966) Cifelli 1990a
†P. foxi Johnson 1996

Marsupialia incertae sedis:

†Itaboraidelphys camposi Marshall & de Muizon 1984
†Mizquedelphys pilpinensis Marshall & de Muizon 1988
†Numbigilga ernielundeliusi Beck et al. 2008 {Numbigilgidae Beck et al. 2008}