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Eometatheria

(Superorder)

Overview

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A taxonomic superorder.

Photos

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Taxonomy

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The Superorder Eometatheria is a member of the Magnorder Australidelphia. Here is the complete "parentage" of Eometatheria:

The Superorder Eometatheria is further organized into finer groupings including:

Orders

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Dasyuromorphia

The Dasyuromorphia (meaning "hairy tail") comprises most carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the Numbat, the Tasmanian Devil, and the recently extinct Thylacine. The only exceptions are the omnivorous bandicoots (order Peramelemorphia) and the marsupial moles (which eat meat but are very different and are now accorded an order of their own, Notoryctemorphia). [more]

Diprotodontia

Diprotodontia is a large of about 120 marsupial mammals including the kangaroos, wallabies, possums, koala, wombats, and many others. Extinct diprotodonts include the rhinoceros-sized Diprotodon, and Thylacoleo, the so-called "marsupial lion". [more]

Notoryctemorphia

The two species of marsupial moles are rare and poorly understood burrowing of the deserts of Western Australia. [more]

Peramelemorphia

The Peramelemorphia includes the bandicoots and bilbies: it equates approximately to the mainstream of marsupial omnivores. All members of the order are endemic to the twin land masses of Australia-New Guinea and most have the characteristic bandicoot shape: a plump, arch-backed body with a long, delicately tapering snout, very large upright ears, relatively long, thin legs, and a thin tail. Their size varies from about 140 grams up to 2 kilograms, but most species are about the weight of a half-grown kitten: somewhere around one kilogram. [more]

Yalkaparidontia

[more]

More info about the Order Yalkaparidontia may be found here.

Sources

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Last Revised: September 22, 2009
2009/09/22 07:14:13