marsupial

Also known as Marsupialia, pouched mammal, pouched mammals, marsupials, metatherians

Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a relatively undeveloped state and then nurtured within a pouch on their mother's abdomen. Extant marsupials encompass many species, including kangaroos, koalas, opossums, possums, Tasmanian devils, wombats, wallabies, and bandicoots.

OverviewAI-generated

Marsupialia is a taxon within the iconic taxon Mammalia. The group originated approximately 66 million years ago.

Research data indicates 13,046 records associated with the query "marsupial." In observational databases, the Virginia Opossum is listed as a species with 72,312 observations. Its ancestry path includes specific identifiers such as 48460 and 42646.

The subject is referenced by 1,790 other encyclopedia articles.

Synthesized by Vinony from 11 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, iNaturalist, PubMed, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

Virginia Opossum

species

Observations72,312

via

Research

13,046 papers

Marsupial chromosomics: bridging the gap between genomes and chromosomes.ReviewReproduction, fertility, and development · 2019Deakin JE, Potter SDOI: 10.1071/RD18201
Immunogenetics of marsupial B-cells.ReviewMolecular immunology · 2020Schraven AL, Stannard HJ, Ong OTW et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.molimm.2019.10.024
Marsupial ophthalmology.ReviewThe veterinary clinics of North America. Exotic animal practice · 2002Stanley RGDOI: 10.1016/s1094-9194(02)00002-6
Marsupial care and husbandry.ReviewThe veterinary clinics of North America. Exotic animal practice · 2004Gamble KCDOI: 10.1016/j.cvex.2004.01.002
Marsupial, insectivore, and chiropteran anesthesia.ReviewThe veterinary clinics of North America. Exotic animal practice · 2001Pye GWDOI: 10.1016/s1094-9194(17)30058-0
Monotreme and marsupial reproduction.ReviewReproduction, fertility, and development · 1995Renfree MBDOI: 10.1071/rd9951003
Bioactive components in the marsupial pouch and milk.ReviewNutrition research reviews · 2025Jayamanna Mohottige MW, Gardner CE, Nye-Wood MG et al.DOI: 10.1017/S0954422424000313
Marsupial milk: a fluid source of nutrition and immune factors for the developing pouch young.ReviewReproduction, fertility, and development · 2019Pharo EADOI: 10.1071/RD18197

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Instance of: taxon
Subclass of: mammal
Image: Kangaroo and joey03.jpg

Show 8 more facts

taxon rank: infraclass
Commons category: Marsupialia
taxon name: Marsupialia
topic's main category: Category:Marsupials
start time: 66000000-0
taxon common name: 有袋上目
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
temporal range start: Cretaceous

Sources (8)

via Wikidata · CC0

~26 min read

Encyclopedic overview

19 sections

Contents

Anatomy
Skull and teeth
Torso
General and convergences
Body temperature
{{anchor|Reproductive_System}}Reproductive system
{{anchor|Male}}Males
{{anchor|Female}}Females
Early development
Range
Interaction with Europeans
Taxonomy
Classification
Evolutionary history
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

Marsupials constitute a clade stemming from the last common ancestor of extant Metatheria, which encompasses all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. The evolutionary split between placentals and marsupials occurred 125–160 million years ago in the Middle Jurassic–Early Cretaceous period.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “marsupial” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.