Herpetotheriidae

Herpetotheriidae is an extinct family of metatherians, closely related to marsupials.^[1] Species of this family are generally reconstructed as terrestrial, and are considered morphologically similar to modern opossums.^[2] They are suggested to have been insectivores.^[3] 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^[4] and the youngest member is Amphiperatherium from the Middle Miocene of Europe.^[5] 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.^[6]

Herpetotheriidae Temporal range: Late Cretaceous - Miocene 66–20 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N [1]
Herpetotherium
Life restoration of Herpetotherium
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Clade:	Marsupialiformes
Family:	†Herpetotheriidae Trouessart, 1879
Genera
See text.
Synonyms
Herpetotheriinae

The family includes the following genera:^[7]

• Amphiperatherium (Early Eocene to Middle Miocene, Europe; synonyms: Oxygomphius, Microtarsioides, Ceciliolemur)
• Asiadidelphis (Late Eocene to Early Oligocene, Kazakhstan and Pakistan)^[8]
• Copedelphys (Late Eocene to Early Oligocene, North America)
• Entomacodon (Middle Eocene, North America; synonym: Centracodon)
• Golerdelphys (Late Paleocene, North America)^[9]
• Galatiadelphys (Middle Eocene, Turkey)
• Herpetotherium (Early Eocene to Middle Miocene, North America)
• Maastrichtidelphys (Maastrichtian, Europe)^[10]
• Nortedelphys (Lancian, North America)^[11]
• Peratherium (Early Eocene to Early Miocene, Europe; Early Oligocene, Egypt, Oman;^[12] synonyms: Alacodon, Qatranitherium)
• Swaindelphys (Early Paleocene, North America)
• Morotodon (Early to Middle Miocene, Uganda, placement in the family tentative)^[13]

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^[14]
• Indodelphis (Early Eocene of India) – originally referred to Peradectidae^[15]
• Jaegeria (Early Eocene of India) – a bat^[16]
• Rumiodon (Paleogene of Peru) – placement uncertain^[17]

Cladogram after,^[6] showing a paraphyletic Herpetotheriidae.

Metatheria	Deltatheriidae Kokopellia Asiatherium Peradectidae Stagodontidae Pucadelphyidae Sparassodonta Amphiperatherium Peratherium "Herpetotheriidae" Herpetotherium Marsupialia

References

1. Asher et al. 2007, p. 318.
2. Asher et al. 2007, p. 322.
3. Kurz C (2005) Ecomorphology of opossum-like marsupials from the Tertiary of Europe and a comparison with selected taxa. Kaupia 14: 21–26.
4. Martin et al. 2005, p. 497; Asher et al. 2007, p. 318.
5. Mörs, von der Hocht & Wutzler 2000, p. 159.
6. 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. 18 (17): 1463–1479. Bibcode:2020JSPal..18.1463L. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1772387. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 221060039.
7. McKenna & Bell 1997, pp. 69–70.
8. Crochet et al. 2007, pp. 634–635.
9. 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.
10. Martin et al. 2005.
11. Case, Goin & Woodburne 2005, pp. 473–482.
12. Hooker et al. 2008.
13. Crespo, Vicente D.; Goin, Francisco J.; Pickford, Martin (2022-03-06). "The last African metatherian". Fossil Record. 25 (1): 173–186. doi:10.3897/fr.25.80706. hdl:10362/151025. ISSN 2193-0074. S2CID 249349445.
14. Hooker et al. 2008, p. 635.
15. Crochet et al. 2007, p. 635.
16. Smith et al. 2007, p. 1008.
17. Goin & Candela 2004, p. 18.

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. (2007). "Exceptionally preserved North American Paleogene metatherians: Adaptations and discovery of a major gap in the opossum fossil record". Biology Letters. 3 (3): 318–322. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0090. PMC 2390683. PMID 17426007.
• Case, J.A.; Goin, F.J.; Woodburne, M.O. (2005). ""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. doi:10.1007/s10914-005-7329-3. S2CID 23819658.
• Crochet, J. -Y.; Antoine, P. -O.; Benammi, M.; Iqbal, N.; Marivaux, L.; Métais, G.; Welcomme, J. -L. (2007). "A herpetotheriid marsupial from the Oligocene of Bugti Hills, Balochistan, Pakistan". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 52 (3): 633–637.
• Goin, F. J.; Candela, A. M. (2004). "New Paleogene marsupials from the Amazon Basin of eastern Perú". Science Series, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. 40: 15–60.
• Hooker, J.J.; Sánchez-Villagra, M.R.; Goin, F.J.; Simons, E.L.; Attia, Y.; Seiffert, E.R. (2008). "The origin of Afro-Arabian 'didelphimorph' marsupials". Palaeontology. 51 (3): 635–648. Bibcode:2008Palgy..51..635H. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00779.x.
• Martin, J.E.; Case, J.A.; Jagt, J.W.M.; Schulp, A.S.; Mulder, E.W.A. (2005). "A new European marsupial indicates a Late Cretaceous high-latitude Transatlantic dispersal route". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 12 (3–4): 495–511. doi:10.1007/s10914-005-7330-x. S2CID 39202343.
• McKenna, M. C.; Bell, S. K. (1997). Classification of Mammals: Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press. p. 631. ISBN 978-0-231-11013-6.
• Mörs, T.; von der Hocht, F.; Wutzler, B. (2000). "Die erste Wirbeltierfauna aus der miozänen Braunkohle der Niederrheinischen Bucht (Ville-Schichten, Tagebau Hambach)". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 74 (1–2): 145–170. doi:10.1007/BF02987958. S2CID 130162805.
• Smith, T.; Rana, R. S.; Missiaen, P.; Rose, K. D.; Sahni, A.; Singh, H.; Singh, L. (2007). "High bat (Chiroptera) diversity in the Early Eocene of India". Naturwissenschaften. 94 (12): 1003–1009. Bibcode:2007NW.....94.1003S. doi:10.1007/s00114-007-0280-9. hdl:1854/LU-385394. PMID 17671774. S2CID 12568128.