Herpetotheriidae Explained

Herpetotheriidae is an extinct family of metatherians, closely related to marsupials. Species of this family are generally reconstructed as terrestrial, and are considered morphologically similar to modern opossums. Fossils of herpetotheriids come from North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and perhaps South America. The oldest representative is Maastrichtidelphys from the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of the Netherlands and the youngest member is Amphiperatherium from the Middle Miocene of Europe. The group has been suggested to be paraphyletic, with an analysis of petrosal anatomy finding that North American Herpetotherium was more closely related to marsupials than the European Peratherium and Amphiperatherium.^[1]

The family includes the following genera:

• Amphiperatherium (Early Eocene to Middle Miocene, Europe; synonyms: Oxygomphius, Microtarsioides, Ceciliolemur)
• Asiadidelphis (Late Eocene to Early Oligocene, Kazakhstan and Pakistan)
• Copedelphys (Late Eocene to Early Oligocene, North America)
• Entomacodon (Middle Eocene, North America; synonym: Centracodon)
• Golerdelphys (Late Paleocene, North America)^[2]
• Galatiadelphys (Middle Eocene, Turkey)
• Herpetotherium (Early Eocene to Middle Miocene, North America)
• Maastrichtidelphys (Maastrichtian, Europe)
• Nortedelphys (Lancian, North America)
• Peratherium (Early Eocene to Early Miocene, Europe; Early Oligocene, Egypt, Oman; synonyms: Alacodon, Qatranitherium)
• Swaindelphys (Early Paleocene, North America)
• Morotodon (Early to Middle Miocene, Uganda)^[3]

The following genera have been placed in the family, but their placement is disputed or obsolete:

• Garatherium (Early Eocene of Algeria) – possibly an adapisoriculid eutherian
• Indodelphis (Early Eocene of India) – originally referred to Peradectidae
• Jaegeria (Early Eocene of India) – a bat
• Rumiodon (Paleogene of Peru) – placement uncertain

Cladogram after, showing a paraphyletic Herpetotheriidae.

References

Literature cited

• Sánchez-Villagra . M.. Ladevèze . S. . Horovitz . I.. Argot . C. . Hooker . J. J. . MacRini . T. E. . Martin . T.. Moore-Fay . S. . De Muizon . C. . Schmelzle . T. . Asher . R. J.. 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0090 . Exceptionally preserved North American Paleogene metatherians: Adaptations and discovery of a major gap in the opossum fossil record . Biology Letters . 3 . 3 . 318–322 . 2007 . 17426007. 2390683 . .
• Case . J.A. . Goin . F.J. . Woodburne . M.O. . 10.1007/s10914-005-7329-3 . "South American" marsupials from the Late Cretaceous of North America and the origin of marsupial cohorts . Journal of Mammalian Evolution . 12 . 3–4 . 461–494 . 2005 . 23819658 .
• Crochet . J. -Y. . Antoine . P. -O. . Benammi . M. . Iqbal . N. . Marivaux . L. . Métais . G. . Welcomme . J. -L. . 2007 . 633–637 . A herpetotheriid marsupial from the Oligocene of Bugti Hills, Balochistan, Pakistan . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 52 . 3 .
• Goin . F. J. . Candela . A. M. . 2004 . 15–60 . New Paleogene marsupials from the Amazon Basin of eastern Perú . Science Series, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County . 40 .
• Hooker . J.J. . Sánchez-Villagra . M.R. . Goin . F.J. . Simons . E.L. . Attia . Y. . Seiffert . E.R. . 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00779.x . The origin of Afro-Arabian 'didelphimorph' marsupials . Palaeontology . 51 . 3 . 635–648 . 2008 . free . 2008Palgy..51..635H .
• Martin . J.E. . Case . J.A. . Jagt . J.W.M. . Schulp . A.S. . Mulder . E.W.A. . A new European marsupial indicates a Late Cretaceous high-latitude Transatlantic dispersal route . 10.1007/s10914-005-7330-x . Journal of Mammalian Evolution . 12 . 3–4 . 495–511 . 2005 . 39202343 .
• Book: McKenna . M. C. . Bell . S. K. . 1997 . Columbia University Press . 978-0-231-11013-6 . 631 . Classification of Mammals: Above the Species Level .
• Mörs . T. . von der Hocht . F. . Wutzler . B. . 2000 . 145–170 . Die erste Wirbeltierfauna aus der miozänen Braunkohle der Niederrheinischen Bucht (Ville-Schichten, Tagebau Hambach) . Paläontologische Zeitschrift . 74 . 1–2 . 10.1007/BF02987958. 130162805 .
• Smith . T. . Rana . R. S. . Missiaen . P. . Rose . K. D. . Sahni . A. . Singh . H. . Singh . L. . 10.1007/s00114-007-0280-9 . High bat (Chiroptera) diversity in the Early Eocene of India . Naturwissenschaften . 94 . 12 . 1003–1009 . 2007 . 17671774. 2007NW.....94.1003S . 1854/LU-385394 . 12568128 . free .

Notes and References

1. Ladevèze. Sandrine. Selva. Charlène. de Muizon. Christian. 2020-09-01. What are "opossum-like" fossils? The phylogeny of herpetotheriid and peradectid metatherians, based on new features from the petrosal anatomy. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. en. 18. 17. 1463–1479. 10.1080/14772019.2020.1772387. 2020JSPal..18.1463L . 221060039 . 1477-2019.
2. Thomas E. Williamson; Donald L. Lofgren (2014). "Late Paleocene (Tiffanian) metatherians from the Goler Formation, California". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34 (2): 477–482. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.804413.
3. Crespo . Vicente D. . Goin . Francisco J. . Pickford . Martin . 2022-03-06 . The last African metatherian . Fossil Record . en . 25 . 1 . 173–186 . 10.3897/fr.25.80706 . 249349445 . 2193-0074. 10362/151025 . free . free .