Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T12:58:56.558Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Middle Tertiary marsupials (Mammalia) from North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

William W. Korth*
Affiliation:
Rochester Institute of Vertebrate Palentology, 928 Whalen Road, Penfield, New York 14526

Abstract

All species of North American marsupials from the Chadronian through Hemingfordian are reviewed. Most North American species of didelphids previously referred to Peratherium are allocated to Herpetotherium. Five species of Herpetotherium are recognized.

The Chadronian Peratherium donahoei Hough is synonymized with Herpetotherium valens (Lambe). The Orellan species Herpetotherium stevensoni Cope is resurrected and referred, along with the Chadronian Peratherium titanelix Matthew, to a new genus, Copedelphys. Both Copedelphys and Herpetotherium can be derived from known Duchesnean species of Peratherium from North America.

Two genera of peradectids are recognized, Nanodelphys McGrew and Didelphidectes Hough. Nanodelphys minutus is synonymized with “Herpetotherium” hunti Cope and a second species of Nanodelphys is recognized from the Arikareean, though not named.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aymard, A. 1846. Essai monographique sur un genre noveau de mammifére fossile trouvé dans la Houte-Loire et nommé Entelodon. Annes de la Societe d'agriculture, sciences, aret et commerce du Puy, 12:227267.Google Scholar
Berggren, W. A., Kent, D. V., Flynn, J. J., and Van Couvering, J. A. 1985. Cenozoic geochronology. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 96:14071418.Google Scholar
Bown, T. M., and Rose, K. D. 1979. Mimoperadectes, a new marsupial, and Worlandia, a new dermopteran, from the lower part of the Willwood Formation (early Eocene), Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 25:89104.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1873a. Third notice of extinct Vertebrata from the Tertiary of the Plains. Palaeontological Bulletin, 16:18.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1873b. Synopsis of new Vertebrata from the Tertiary of Colorado, obtained during the summer of 1873. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 19 p. [Reprinted in U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of Colorado, F. V. Hayden, 1873:427532.]Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1874. Report on the vertebrate paleontology of Colorado, p. 461518. In Annual Report of the Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories for 1873. F. V. Hayden, U.S. Geologist, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1884. The Vertebrata of the Tertiary formations of the West. Report of the U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories. F. V. Hayden, geologist in charge, Washington, D.C., 1,009 p.Google Scholar
Crochet, J.-Y. 1977. Les Didelphidae (Marsupicarnivora, Marsupialia) holarctiques tertiaires. Comptes-rendus hebdomadaires des seances de l'Academie des sciences, Paris, 24(series D):357360.Google Scholar
Crochet, J.-Y. 1979. Diversité systématique des Didelphidae (Marsupialia) européens Tertiaires. Géobios, 12:365378.Google Scholar
Crochet, J.-Y. 1980. Les marsupiaux du Tertiaire d'Europe. Editions de la Fondtion Singer-Polignac, Paris, 279 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crochet, J.-Y. 1984. Garatherium mahboubii nov. gen., nov. sp., marsupial de l'Eocene inferieur d'El Kohol (Sud-Oranais, Algerie). Annales de Paleontologie, 70:275294.Google Scholar
Crochet, J.-Y. 1986. Kasserinotherium tunisiense nov. gen., nov. sp., troisiéme marsupial découvert en Afrique (Eocéne inférieur de Tunisie). Comptes-rendus hebdomadaires des seances de l'Academie des sciences, Paris, Série II, 302(14):923926.Google Scholar
Douglass, E. 1901. Fossil Mammalia of the White River beds of Montana. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 20:237279.Google Scholar
Filhol, H. 1879. Etude des mammiféres fossiles de St.-Gerand-le-Puy. Ecole paratique des hautes etudes, Bibliotheque, Section des sciences naturelles, Paris, 10:1253.Google Scholar
Fox, R. C. 1983. Notes on the North American Tertiary marsupials Herpetotherium and Peradectes. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 20:15651578.Google Scholar
Galbreath, E. C. 1953. A contribution to the Tertiary geology and paleontology of northeastern Colorado. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, Vertebrata, 4:1120.Google Scholar
Gazin, C. L. 1934. A marsupial from the Florissant Beds (Tertiary) of Colorado. Journal of Paleontology, 9:5762.Google Scholar
Gray, J. E. 1821. On the natural arrangement of vertebrose animals. London Medical Repository, 15:269310.Google Scholar
Green, M., and Martin, J. E. 1976. Peratherium (Marsupialia: Didelphidae) from the Oligocene and Miocene of South Dakota, p. 155168. In Churcher, C. S. (ed.), Athlon. Essays on Palaeontology in Honour of Loris Shano Russell. Life Sciences Miscellaneous Publications of the Royal Ontario Museum.Google Scholar
Hay, O. P. 1901. Bibliography and catalogue of the fossil Vertebrata of North America. Bulletin of the U.S. Geological Survey, 179:1868.Google Scholar
Hough, J. R. 1961. Review of Oligocene didelphid marsupials. Journal of Paleontology, 35:218228.Google Scholar
Korth, W. W. 1992. Fossil small mammals from the Harrison Formation (late Arikareean: earliest Miocene), Cherry County, Nebraska. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 61:69131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krishtalka, L., and Stucky, R. K. 1983a. Revision of the Wind River faunas, early Eocene of central Wyoming. Part 3. Marsupialia. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 52:205227.Google Scholar
Krishtalka, L., and Stucky, R. K. 1983b. Paleocene and Eocene marsupials of North America. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 52:229263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krishtalka, L., and Stucky, R. K. 1984. Middle Eocene marsupials (Mammalia) from northeastern Utah and the mammalian fauna from Powder Wash. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 53:3145.Google Scholar
Lambe, L. M. 1908. The Vertebrata of the Oligocene of the Cypress Hills, Sskatchewan. Contributions to Canadian Palaeontology, 3:165.Google Scholar
Lillegraven, J. A. 1976. Didelphids (Marsupialia) and Uintasorex (?Primates) from the later Eocene sediments of San Diego County, California. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History, 18:85112.Google Scholar
Lillegraven, J. A., McKenna, M. C., and Krishtalka, L. 1981. Evolutionary relationships of middle Eocene and younger species of Centetodon (Mammalia, Insectivora, Geolabididae) with a description of the dentition of Ankylodon (Adapisoricidae). University of Wyoming Publications, 45:1115.Google Scholar
Macdonald, J. R. 1963. The Miocene faunas from the Wounded Knee area of western South Dakota. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 125:139238.Google Scholar
Macdonald, J. R. 1970. Review of the Miocene Wounded Knee faunas of southwestern South Dakota. Bulletin of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, 8:182.Google Scholar
Marshall, L. G., Case, J. A., and Woodburne, M. O. 1990. Phylogenetic relationships of the families of marsupials, p. 433505. In Genoways, H. H. (ed.), Current Mammalogy, Vol. 2. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Martin, L. D. 1973. The mammalian fauna of the Lower-Miocene Gering Formation of western Nebraska and the early evolution of the North American Cricetidae. Unpubl. , , 264 p.Google Scholar
Matthew, W. D. 1903. The fauna of the Titanotherium beds at Pipestone Springs, Montana. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 19:119.Google Scholar
Matthew, W. D. and Granger, W. 1921. New genera of Paleocene mammals. American Museum Novitates, 13:17.Google Scholar
McGrew, P. O. 1937. New marsupials from the Tertiary of Nebraska. Journal of Geology, 45:448455.Google Scholar
McKenna, M. C. 1960. The Geolabinae a new subfamily of early Cenozoic erinaceoid insectivores. University of California Publications in the Geological Sciences, 37:131164.Google Scholar
Reig, O. A., Kirsch, J. A. W., and Marshall, L. G. 1985. New conclusions on the relationships of the opossum-like marsupials, with an annotated classification of the Didelphimorphia. Ameghiniana, 21:335343.Google Scholar
Reig, O. A., Kirsch, J. A. W., and Marshall, L. G. 1987. Systematic relationships of the living and neo-Cenozoic American “opossum-like” marsupials, p. 189. In Archer, M. (ed.), Possums and Opossums: Studies in Evolution. Surrey Beatty and Sons and the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Sydney.Google Scholar
Ride, W. D. L. 1964. A review of Australian fossil marsupials. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 47:97131.Google Scholar
Russell, L. S. 1934. Revision of the Lower Oligocene vertebrate fauna of the Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan. Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute, 20:4967.Google Scholar
Russell, L. S. 1954. Mammalian fauna of the Kishenehn formation, southeastern British Columbia. Annual Report of the National Museum for 1952-53, Bulletin 132:95111.Google Scholar
Russell, L. S. 1972. Tertiary mammals of Saskatchewan. Part II: The Oligocene fauna, non-ungulate orders. Life Sciences Contribution of the Royal Ontario Museum, 84:197.Google Scholar
Russell, L. S. 1984. Tertiary mammals of Saskatchewan. Part VII: Oligocene marsupials. Life Sciences Contribution of the Royal Ontario Museum, 139:113.Google Scholar
Scott, W. B. 1884. A new marsupial from the Miocene of Colorado. American Journal of Science, 3rd series, 27:442443.Google Scholar
Scott, W. B. 1941. The mammalian fauna of the White River Oligocene. Part V. Perissodactyla. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 28:747980.Google Scholar
Scott, W. B., and Jepsen, G. L. 1936. The mammalian fauna of the White River Oligocene. Part 1. Insectivora and Carnivora. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 28:1153.Google Scholar
Setoguchi, T. 1975. Paleontology and geology of the Badwater Creek area, central Wyoming. Part 11. Late Eocene marsupials. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 45:263275.Google Scholar
Setoguchi, T. 1978. Paleontology and geology of the Badwater Creek area, central Wyoming. Part 16. The Cedar Ridge local fauna (late Oligocene). Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 9:161.Google Scholar
Shotwell, J. A. 1968. Miocene mammals of southeast Oregon. Bulletin of the Museum of Natural History, University of Oregton, 14:167.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1968. A didelphid (Marsupialia) from the early Eocene of Colorado. Postilla, 115:13.Google Scholar
Slaughter, B. H. 1978. Occurrences of didelphine marsupials from the Eocene and Miocene of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain. Journal of Paleontology, 52:744746.Google Scholar
Stock, C. 1936. Sespe Eocene didelphids. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 22:122124.Google Scholar
Stock, C., and Furlong, E. L. 1922. A marsupial from the John Day Oligocene of Logan Butte, eastern Oregon. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, 13:311317.Google Scholar
Swisher, C. C. III, and Prothero, D. R. 1990. Single-crystal 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Eocene-Oligocene transition in North America. Science, 249:760762.Google Scholar
Trouessart, E.-L. 1879. Catelogue des mammiferes vivants et fossiles. II. Chiroptera. Revue et magazine de zoologie pure et applique. Paris, (3)VI:201254.Google Scholar
Van Valen, L. 1967. New Paleocene insectivores and insectivore classification. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 135:221284.Google Scholar
White, T. E. 1954. Preliminary analysis of the fossil vertebrates of the Canyon Ferry Reservoir area. Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, 103(3326):395438.Google Scholar