This order contains three recent families, Dasyuridae (dasyurids, including an amazing array of mouse- to dog-sized insectivorous or carnivorous species, Myrmecobiidae (containing just the numbat or marsupial anteater), and Thylacinidae (restricted the the probably-extinct thylacine or Tasmanian wolf). Dasyuromorphs are said to be modern representatives of a sort of basal stock of metatheria, from which other Australian families arose. They are not syndactylous, and they have 4/3 incisors ( polyprotodont).

 

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  Literature and references cited 

 

Aplin, K. P., and M. Archer. 1987. Recent advances in marsupial systematics with a new syncretic classification. Pp. xv-lxxii in Archer, M. (ed.), Possums and Opossums: Studies in Evolution, Vol. I. Surrey Beatty and Sons PTY Limited, Chipping Norton. lxxii+400 pp.

 

Feldhamer, G. A., L. C. Drickamer, S. H. Vessey, and J. F. Merritt. 1999. Mammalogy. Adaptation, Diversity, and Ecology. WCB McGraw-Hill, Boston. xii+563pp.

 

Vaughan, T. A., J. M. Ryan, N. J. Czaplewski. 2000. Mammalogy. Fourth Edition. Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia. vii+565pp.

 

Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder. 1993. Mammal Species of the World, A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 2nd edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington. xviii+1206 pp.

 

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  Click on a family below to learn more: 

 

  Dasyuridae 

 

  Myrmecobiidae 

 

  Thylacinidae