Subclass Prototheria

Order Monotremata

Monotremata means: one opening (the cloaca)

-- only in australia/new guinea

-- contains: platypus, long/short-beaked echidnas

-- oviparous(egg laying)-soft shell not cleidoic (hard shelled like birds)

-- egg tooth

-- milk sweated

-- baby echidna = puggle

-- sperm filiform (wiggle line only)

--

Platypus

-- sensitive to electric fields

-- males have poisonous spurs

-- females no pouch

-- no pinnae (ears)

-- horny pad (no teeth)

-- cheek pouches

Echidna

-- long-beak has electroreceptors and long tongue

-- no teeth

-- 2^nd toe of hindfoot groom mod'd

-- male has spur on hind foot but no venom

--

Short-Nosed Echidna

-- males follow female in echidna train

-- Puggle hatches w/ Egg-tooth[image][image]

Marsupials

7 orders cut into 20 families

via dentition & digits

Dentition

polyprotodont(unshortened mandible w/ unspecialized lower incisors)

diprotodont(shortened mandible w/ 1st pair lower incisors lengthened)

Digits

didactylous(unfused toes)

syndactylous(2nd & 3rd toes fused)

-- small brained

-- no auditory bullae

-- primitive dental formula (50 teeth)

-- epipubic bone in both sexes

-- uterus and penis bifurcate

-- marsupium in 50% of species

-- Choriovitelline placenta

-- never baculum

-- low metabolic rate

-- < behavioral plasticity

-- low diploid

-- short gestatio/long lactation

Order Didelphimorhia

Family Didelphidae

New World Opossums

-- large sagittal crest

-- marsupium may or may not be present

-- Ex.

-Dildelphis Virginianis (Virginia Opossum)

-Yapok/Water Opossum (semi aquatic)

-Wooly Opossum

-Mouse Opossum

-Short-tailed Opossum

-Four-eyed Opossum

Rat & Shrew Opossums

-- No marsupiun

-- Relict species of andes

--1st lower incisors long and used to stab prey

Monotypic- Monito del Monte

-- only in South Central Chile now

-- arboreal and nocturnal

-- Sole disperser of mistletoe in Chile

Order Dasyuromorphia

Family Dasyuridae

Carnivorous Marsupials

Polyprotodont-/-Didactylous

-- hallux(big toe) absent or vistigial

-- no marsupium

-- Ex.

- Brown Antechinus (marsupial mouse,breed up to 6hrs at a time)

- Fat-tailed Dunnart (water from food, fat in tail for torpur)

- Dibbler (rarest dasyurid, last seen 1967)

- Spotted-tailed "Tiger" Quoll (most aggressive sp., large opportunistic carnivore, polyestrus-will copulate for up to 8hrs, habitat loss/competition from invasives)

- Kowari (desert habitat, carnivorous scavenger, use urine/feces messages, nocturnal)

- Tasmanian Devil (Tasmania and New Zealand, largest of carnivorous marspials remaining, carrion-eater, Devil facial tumor disease)

Order Dasyuromorphia

Family Myrmecobiidae

Numbat

(endagered)

-- monotypic family

-- long tongue

-- small teeth

-- eats termites

-- can't open mouth

-- threatened by red fox in its SW Australia eucalyptus forests

Order Dasyuromorphia

Family Thylacinidae

Thylacine

(Extinct-1936)

-- monotypic family "tasmanian wolf/tiger"

-- Largest predatory marsupial

-- wolf-like in structure

-- hunted to extinction

-- ventral opening marsupium

Order Notoryctemorphia

Family Notoryctidae

Marsupial Mole

("itjaritjaris" 2 sp.)

-- eye vestigial/blind

-- no pinnae

-- enlarged claws on 3rd & 4th digits

-- divided marsupium

-- insectivorous

Order Peramelemorphia

Family Peramelidae

Bandicoots

(6 genera, Digitigrade hindfoot, Syndactylus)

-- cursorial convergence with horses

-- burrows also with foot

-- Ex.

- Pig-footed Bandicoot (forefeet Didactyl "antelope-like", hindfeet Monodactyl "horse-like")

- Brown Bandicoot

- Spiney Bandicoot (6 sp. may live sympatrically "overlapping distribution")

Order Peramelemorphia

Family Thylacomyidae

Bilbys

-- 1 genus , 2 sp.

-- deserts now, once broader distribution

-- insectivour/herbivour

-- burrows

-- Nocturnal

-- Decline due to change in fire regime and invasives

Order Diprotodontia

Family Vombatidae

Wombats

(diprotodont, syndactylous)

-- open-rooted teeth

-- large incisors w/ no canines

-- molars are Bilophodont (paired transverse lophs)

-- Warrens are huge

-- Marsupium opens posteriorly

-- Sp. include Common, Southern Hairy-Nosed, and Northern Hairy-Nosed (endangered due to cattle/rabbits)

Order Diprotodontia

Family Phascolarctidae

Koala

-- crescentric ridges of molars

-- largest cecum to body size in any mammal (4x)

-- Chorioallantoic placenta like eutharians and bandicoots

Order Diprotodontia

Family Burramyidae

Pygmy Possums

-- smallest possum (6-8g)

-- Embryonic diapause (like macropods)

-- Nectivorous (brushed tongues)

-- Torpor

-- Mountain pygmy possum (endangered, only marsupial to undergo prolonged hibernation of 2-7months)

Order Diprotodontia

Family Phalangeridae

Brushtail/Scaly-tailed Possum and Cuscus

-- Marsupium opens anteriorly

-- Nocturnal

-- Ex.

- Brushtail possum (folivore/flower/nectivore, intro to New Zealand for fur trade where it caused serious damage to forests/orchards)

- Scaly-tailed Possum (omnivorous, little known about it)

- Spotted Cuscus (omnivore, arboreal, wide variation in pelage which may serve as messages, one night w/in 28 days in estrous)

Order Diprotodontia

Family Tarsipedidae

Honey Possum

-- nectivorous (long pointed rostrum and brush tongue)

-- marsupium well developed

-- delayed implantation

-- young are smallest born ever (5mg)

-- sperm largest known among mammals

Order Diprotodontia

Family Acrobatidae

Feathertail Glider & Feather-tailed Possum

-- long, stiff, featherlike hairs on sides of tail

-- Nectivours

- Feathertail Glider (furred patagium, nests in groups of up to 20 and exhibits embryonic diapause)

- Feather-tailed Possum (doesn't glide)

Order Diprotodontia

Family Pseudocheiridae

Elbow-winged Gliders/Possums

-- Marsupium opens anteriorly

-- Foliovours

-- Large cecum

-- Ex.

- Herbert's River ringtail possum

- Green Ringtail Possum (fur black, yellow, and white)

- Lemuroid Ringtail Possum (white sp. first mammal extinct due to glodal climate change)

- Greater Glider (patagium attaches from elbow-ankle)

Order Diplotodontia

Family Petauridae

Wrist-winged Gliders/Possums

-- Convergent with flying squirrels

-- Nocturnal herbivores/insectivores

-- Prehensile tail and opposable hallux

-- Ex.

- Sugar Glider (live in family groups)

- Yellow-bellied Glider

- Striped Possum (no patagium, strong odor, aposematic coloration)

- Leadbeater's Possum (thought extinct/rediscovered 1961)

Order Diprotodontia

Family Hypsiprymnodontidae

Musky-Rat Kangaroos

-- Monotypic

-- Quadriped (not saltatorial)

-- Omnivorous

Order Diprotodontia

Family Potoroidae

Potoroos & Bettongs

-- hind limbs enlarged like kangaroos

-- carnaissal premolar

-- omnivore

-- threatened by invasives

-- Ex.

- Long-nosed Potoroo

- Long-footed Potoroo (restricted to SE Australia)

- Brush-tailed Bettong (endangered b/c invasives)

Order Diprotodontia

Family Macropodidae

Kangaroos, Wallabies, Tree- Kangaroos

-- large sacculated stomach (not chambered) foregut fermentors

-- Saltatorial (hallux absent, syndactylous)

-- Marsupium large and anteriorly opening

-- Embryonic Diapause (except western gray kangaroo)

-- Ex.

- Agile Wallaby

- Banded Hare-wallaby

- Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby

- Brindled Nail-tailed Wallaby (endangered)

- Eastern Gray Kangaroo

- Gray Dorcopsis

- Red Kangaroo

- Papuan Forest Wallaby

- Red-legged Pademelon

- Red-necked Wallaby

- Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby (endangered)

- Lumbholtz's Tree-kangaroo

- Dingiso

- Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo