List of adaptive radiated marsupials by form

This is a list of adaptive radiated marsupial

Marsupial

Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central...

s by form; they are adaptively radiated

Adaptive radiation

In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is the evolution of ecological and phenotypic diversity within a rapidly multiplying lineage. Starting with a recent single ancestor, this process results in the speciation and phenotypic adaptation of an array of species exhibiting different...

marsupial

Marsupial

species equivalent to the many niche-types of non-marsupial mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s. Many of the surviving species are from Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. There are unique types, for example the extinct

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...

genus Nototherium
Nototherium
Nototherium is an extinct genus of marsupial. This mammal had hypsodont molars. It was a relative of the larger Diprotodon and a distant kin to modern wombats too...

, a 'rhinoceros

Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....

-type'.

The new world has the common opossum, also a unique form.

Even before the mid-19th century and Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

's time, biogeographer

Biogeography

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species , organisms, and ecosystems in space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a highly regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area...

s understood speciation

Speciation

Speciation is the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise. The biologist Orator F. Cook seems to have been the first to coin the term 'speciation' for the splitting of lineages or 'cladogenesis,' as opposed to 'anagenesis' or 'phyletic evolution' occurring within lineages...

and animal niches. A supreme example that became aware to Darwin as sailing ships traveled the world is the New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

flightless, ground-dwelling, worm-eating kiwi

Kiwi

Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...

, a bird, but a species in a mammal-niche.

Anteater-like

1 genus–(monotypic

Monotypic

In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...

)
(2 subspecies)

Anteater Anteater Anteaters, also known as antbear, are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua commonly known for eating ants and termites. Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa... -like marsupials
Taxa	Presence	Notes	Images
Marsupial Marsupial Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central... : (anteater-like) Family-Myrmecobiidae Genus-*Myrmecobius* 1 Genus-Numbat Numbat The numbat , also known as the banded anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, the range is now restricted to several small colonies and it is listed as an endangered species... (2 subspecies)	Western Australia Western Australia Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east... (2 subspecies)

Cat-like

1 genus–(6 species)

Cat Cat The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests... -like marsupials
Taxa	Presence	Notes	Images
Marsupial Marsupial Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central... : (cat-like) Order-Dasyuromorphia Dasyuromorphia The order Dasyuromorphia comprises most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the numbat, the Tasmanian devil, and the recently extinct thylacine... Family- Dasyuridae Dasyuridae Dasyuridae is a family of marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, including 61 species divided into 15 genera. Many are small and mouse-like, giving them the misnomer marsupial mice, but the group also includes the cat-sized quolls, as well as the Tasmanian Devil... Genus-*Dasyurus* D. albopunctatus D. geoffroii D. hallucatus D. maculatus D. spartacus D. viverrinus	Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... & Papua and New Guineas

Groundhog-like

6 genera
2 surviving genera

Groundhog Groundhog The groundhog , also known as a woodchuck, whistle-pig, or in some areas as a land-beaver, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. Other marmots, such as the yellow-bellied and hoary marmots, live in rocky and mountainous areas, but... -like marsupials
Taxa	Presence	Notes	Images
Marsupial Marsupial Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central... : (groundhog-like) Family-Vombatidae Genera 6 genera

Mole-like

1 genus–(2 species)

Mole Mole (animal) Moles are small cylindrical mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have velvety fur; tiny or invisible ears and eyes; and short, powerful limbs with large paws oriented for digging. The term is especially and most properly used for the true moles, those of the Talpidae family in the... -like marsupials
Taxa	Presence	Notes	Images
Marsupial Marsupial Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central... : (mole-like) Genus-*Notoryctes* N. caurinus N. typhlops

Rhinoceros-like

1 genus

Rhinoceros Rhinoceros Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia.... -like marsupials
Taxa	Presence	Notes	Images
Marsupial Marsupial Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central... : (rhinoceros-like) Order-Diprotodontia Diprotodontia Diprotodontia is a large order 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".... Sub-Order-Vombatiformes Vombatiformes Vombatiformes is one of the three suborders of the large marsupial order Diprotodontia. Five of the seven known families within this suborder are extinct; only the families Phascolarctidae, with the Koala, and Vombatidae, with three extant species of wombat, survive.Among the extinct families are... Family-Diprotodontidae Diprotodontidae Diprotodontidae is an extinct family of large, actively mobile marsupial, endemic to what would be Australia, during the Oligocene through Pleistocene periods from 28.4 mya—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately .-References:... Genus-Nototherium Nototherium Nototherium is an extinct genus of marsupial. This mammal had hypsodont molars. It was a relative of the larger Diprotodon and a distant kin to modern wombats too...	Extinct

Squirrel-like

1 genus–(6 species)

Squirrel Squirrel Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia... -like marsupials
Taxa	Presence	Notes	Images
Marsupial Marsupial Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central... : (squirrel-like) Genus-Petaurus Petaurus The genus Petaurus contains flying phalangers or wrist-winged gliders, a group of arboreal marsupials. There are six species, Sugar Glider, Squirrel Glider, Mahogany Glider, Northern Glider, Yellow-bellied Glider and Biak Glider, and are native to Australia or New Guinea.Flying phalangers are... P. abidi P. australis P. biacensis P. breviceps P. gracilis P. norfolcensis

Wolf-like

1 genus–(1 species)

Wolf-like marsupials
Taxa	Presence	Notes	Images
Marsupial Marsupial Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central... : (wolf-like) Order-Dasyuromorphia Dasyuromorphia The order Dasyuromorphia comprises most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the numbat, the Tasmanian devil, and the recently extinct thylacine... Family- Thylacinidae Thylacinidae The animals in the Thylacinidae family were all carnivorous marsupials from the order Dasyuromorphia. The only recent member was the Thylacine , which became extinct in 1936... Genus-Thylacinus Thylacinus Thylacinus is a genus of extinct carnivorous marsupials from the order Dasyuromorphia. The only recent member was the Thylacine , which became extinct in 1936 due to hunting. The other animals in the group all lived in prehistoric times in Australia... T. cynocephlus	Extinct

Wolverine-like