Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Cranial Morphospace of Extant Marsupials

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Mammalian Evolution Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Marsupials represent a major mammalian diversification today restricted geographically to the Americas (but chiefly to the Neotropical Region) and Australasia. The group is highly diverse in morphology, ecology, and habits, and this is reflected to a great extent in cranial morphology. Here, we selected the largest specimens available from a post-weaning developmental series of a large-scale ongoing ontogenetic study to generate a linear multivariate morphospace of the skull of living marsupials. This sample comprised 106 species covering most living clades, and we used a basic set of measurements that estimate dimensions of major skull structures. We specified some predictions suited for a diverse but ancient group with an allopatric distribution. The cranial morphospace of living marsupials was low-dimensional, dominated by size/allometric as well as shape trends of robustness versus gracility and elongation versus depth. Phylogenetic structuring was present, especially in relation to diprotodontians, and the ecological imprint of patterns in phylomorphospace was marked. Evolutionary convergence was statistically detectable between selected species clusters combining Neotropical and Australasian species, chiefly among animalivorous forms but also in predominantly phytophagous arboreal possums and woolly opossums. Convergence among Australian large grazers may be influenced or limited by interspecific competition. Evolutionary divergence was remarkable in some groups, but evolutionary rates varied greatly across divergent forms. Some space voids may be due to extinction; fossil forms are expected to fill in these voids, expand the realized morphospace, and perhaps increase intra- and intercontinental convergence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References 

  • Abdala F, Flores DA, Giannini NP. 2001. Postweaning ontogeny of the skull of Didelphis albiventris. J Mammal 82(1): 190-200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amador LI, Giannini NP (2016). Phylogeny and evolution of body mass in didelphid marsupials (Marsupialia: Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae). Org Divers Evol 16(3): 641-657

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amador LI, Giannini NP (2021). Evolution of diet in extant marsupials: emergent patterns from a broad phylogenetic perspective. Mammal Rev 51(2): 178-192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antoine P-O, Marivaux L, Croft DA, Billet G, Ganerød M, Jaramillo C, Martin T, Orliac MJ, Tejada J, Altamirano AJ, Duranthon F, Fanjat G, Rousse S, Salas-Gismondi R (2012) Middle Eocene rodents from Peruvian Amazonia reveal the pattern and timing of caviomorph origins and biogeography. Proc Roy Soc B 279:1319–1326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Astúa D (2015) Didelphidae (opossums). In: Wilson DE and RA Mittermeier (eds) Handbook of the Mammals of the World. 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp. 70–186

  • Attard MR, Parr WC, WilsonLA, Archer M, Hand SJ, Rogers TL, Wroe S (2014). Virtual reconstruction and prey size preference in the mid Cenozoic thylacinid, Nimbacinus dicksoni (Thylacinidae, Marsupialia). PLoS One, 9(4), e93088.

  • Babot MJ, Powell JE, de Muizon C (2002). Callistoe vincei, a new Proborhyaenidae (Borhyaenoidea, Metatheria, Mammalia) from the early Eocene of Argentina. Geobios 35(5): 615-629

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker AM (2015) Dasyuridae (carnivorous marsupials). In: Wilson DE and RA Mittermeier (eds) Handbook of the Mammals of the World. 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp. 232–348

  • Beck RMD, Godthelp H, Weisbecker V, Archer M (2008) Australia’s oldest marsupial fossils and their biogeographical implications. PLoS ONE 3:e1858.

  • Bennett CV, Goswami A (2013) Statistical support for the hypothesis of developmental constraint in marsupial skull evolution. BMC Biol 11(1): 1-14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bi S, Zheng X, Wang X, Cignetti NE, Yang S, Wible JR (2018) An Early Cretaceous eutherian and the placental-marsupial dichotomy. Nature 558: 390–395.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Billet G (2010) New observations on the skull of Pyrotherium (Pyrotheria, Mammalia) and new phylogenetic hypotheses on South American ungulates. J Mammal Evol 17: 21–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billet G (2011) Phylogeny of the Notoungulata (Mammalia) based on cranial and dental characters. J Syst Palaeontol 9(4): 481–497

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billet G, Hautier L, de Muizon C, Valentin X (2011) Oldest cingulate skulls provide congruence between morphological and molecular scenarios of armadillo evolution. Proc R Soc B 278: 2791–2797

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Black KH, Archer M, Hand SJ, Godthelp H (2012) The rise of Australian marsupials: a synopsis of biostratigraphic, phylogenetic, palaeoecologic and palaeobiogeographic understanding. In: Talent JA (eds) Earth and Life, 983–1078. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bond M, Tejedor MF, Campbell KE, Chornogubsky L, Novo N, Goin F (2015). Eocene primates of South America and the African origins of New World monkeys. Nature 520(7548): 538-541.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brennan IG (2019) Incorporating uncertainty is essential to macroecological inferences: Grass, grit, and the evolution of kangaroos. bioRxiv, 772558

  • Carlini AA, Ciancio MR, Flynn JJ, Scillato‐Yané GJ, Wyss AR (2009) The phylogenetic and biostratigraphic significance of new armadillos (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Dasypodidae, Euphractinae) from the Tinguirirican (Early Oligocene) of Chile. J Syst Palaeont 7(4): 489–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castro MC, Dahur MJ, Ferreira GS (2021) Amazonia as the origin and diversification area of Didelphidae (Mammalia: Metatheria), and a review of the fossil record of the clade. J Mammal Evol 1–16.

  • Crespo VD, Goin FJ (2021) Taxonomy and affinities of african cenozoic metatherians. Spanish J Palaeont 36(2).

  • Chornogubsky L (2021) Interrelationships of Polydolopidae (mammalia: Marsupialia) from south America and Antarctica. Zool J Linnean Soc 192(4): 1195-1236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croft DA, Gelfo JN, Lopez GM (2020) Splendid innovation: the extinct South American native ungulates. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 48: 259–290.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Delsuc F, Kuch M, Gibb GC, Karpinski E, Hackenberger D, Szpak P, Martínez JG, Mead JI, McDonald HG, McPhee RDE, Billet G, Hauthier L, Poinar HN (2019) Ancient mitogenomes reveal the evolutionary history and biogeography of sloths. Current Biol 29(12): 2031-2042.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dickman CR (2005) Marsupials of the world: an introduction. In: Nowak R (ed) Walker’s Marsupials of the World. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, pp. 1-67

    Google Scholar 

  • Eldridge MDB, and GM Coulson (2015) Macropodidae (Kangaroos and wallabies). In: Wilson DE, Mittermeier RA (eds) Handbook of the Mammals of the World. 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp. 630–735

  • Eldridge MDB, Beck RMD, Croft DA, Travouillon KJ, Fox BJ (2019) An emerging consensus in the evolution, phylogeny, and systematics of marsupials and their fossil relatives (Metatheria). J Mammal 100: 802–837.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fabre AC, Dowling C, Portela Miguez R, Fernandez V, Noirault E, Goswami A (2021) Functional constraints during development limit jaw shape evolution in marsupials. Proc Roy Soc B 288(1949): 20210319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores DA (2009) Phylogenetic analyses of postcranial skeletal morphology in didelphid marsupials. Bul Am Mus Nat Hist 320: 1-81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores DA, Giannini NP, Abdala NF (2003) Cranial ontogeny of Lutreolina crassicaudata (Didelphidae): a comparison with Didelphis albiventris. Acta Theriol 48(1): 1-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores DA, Giannini NP, Abdala NF (2006) Comparative postnatal ontogeny of the skull in the australidelphian metatherian Dasyurus albopunctatus (Marsupialia: Dasyuromorpha: Dasyuridae). J Morphology 267:426-440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores DA, Giannini NP, Abdala NF (2018) Evolution of post-weaning skull ontogeny in New World opossums (Didelphidae). Org Divers Evol 18(3): 367-382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores DA, Abdala F, Giannini NP (2010) Cranial ontogeny of Caluromys philander (Didelphidae, Caluromyinae): a qualitative and quantitative approach. J Mammal 91(3): 539-550

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores DA, Abdala F, Giannini NP (2013) Post-weaning cranial ontogeny in two bandicoots (Mammalia, Peramelomorphia, Peramelidae) and comparison with carnivorous marsupials. J Zool 116: 372-384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores DA, Abdala F, Martin GM, Giannini NP, Martínez JM (2015) Post-weaning cranial growth in shrew opossums (Caenolestidae): a comparison with bandicoots (Peramelidae) and carnivorous marsupials. J Mammal Evol 22(3): 285-303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forasiepi AM, Carlini AA (2010) A new thylacosmilid (Mammalia, Metatheria, Sparassodonta) from the Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina. Zootaxa 2552(1): 55-68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friend JA (2015) Family Myrmecobiidae (Numbat). In: Wilson DE, Mittermeier RA (eds) Handbook of the Mammals of the World. 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp. 222-231

  • García-López DA, Powell JE (2011) Griphotherion peiranoi, gen. et sp. nov., a new Eocene Notoungulata (Mammalia, Meridiungulata) from northwestern Argentina. J Vert Paleont 31(5): 1117–1130

  • Giannini NP (2003) Canonical phylogenetic ordination. Syst Biol 52: 684-695

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Giannini NP (2014) Quantitative developmental data in a phylogenetic framework. J Exp Zool Part B: Mol Dev Evol 322(8): 558-566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giannini NP, Abdala NF, DA Flores (2004) Comparative postnatal ontogeny of the skull in Dromiciops gliroides (Marsupialia: Microbiotheriidae). Amer Mus Novitat 3460: 1-17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giannini NP, García-López DA (2014) Eco-morphology of Mammalian fóssil lineages: identifying morphotypes in a case study of endemic South American ungulates. J Mammal Evol 21: 195-212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillespie AK, Archer M, Hand SJ (2016) A tiny new marsupial lion (Marsupialia, Thylacoleonidae) from the early Miocene of Australia. Palaeontol Electron 19: 1–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goin FJ, Candela AM, Abello MA, Oliveira EV (2009) Earliest South American paucituberculatans and their significance in the understanding of ‘pseudodiprotodont’ marsupial radiations. Zool J Linnean Soc 155: 867–884

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goin FJ, Gelfo JN, Chornogubsky L, Woodburne MO, Martin T (2012) Origins, radiations, and distribution of South American mammals from greenhouse to icehouse worlds. In: Patterson BD, Costa LP (eds) Bones, Clones, and Biomes. The History and Geography of Recent Neotropical Mammals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, pp. 20–50

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Goin FJ, Woodburne MO, Zimicz N, Martin GM, Chornogubsky L (2016) A brief history of South American metatherians. Springer Earth Systems Sciences, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

  • Goswami A (2007) Phylogeny, diet, and cranial integration in australodelphian marsupials. PLoS One 2: e995.

  • Goswami A, Milne N, Wroe S (2011) Biting through constraints: cranial morphology, disparity and convergence across living and fossil carnivorous mammals. Proc Roy Soc B: Biol Sci 278(1713): 1831-1839

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helgen KM, Jackson SM (2015) Phalangeridae (cuscuses, brush-tailed possums, scaly-tailed possum). In: Wilson DE, Mittermeier RA (eds) Handbook of the Mammals of the World. 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp. 456–497

  • Helgen KM, Veatch EG (2015) Recently extinct marsupials and monotremes. In: Wilson DE, Mittermeier RA (eds) Handbook of the Mammals of the World. 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp. 17–31

  • Herrera CM, Powell JE, Esteban GI, del Papa C (2017) A new Eocene dasypodid with caniniforms (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Cingulata) from northwest Argentina. J Mammal Evol 24(3): 275-288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hershkovitz P (1999) Dromiciops gliroides Thomas, 1894, last of the Microbiotheria (Marsupialia), with a review of the family Microbiotheriidae. Fieldiana Zool 93: 1-60

    Google Scholar 

  • Hooker JJ, Sánchez-Villagra MR, Goin FJ, Simons EL, Attia Y, Seiffert ER (2008) The origin of Afro-Arabian ‘didelphimorph’ marsupials. Palaeontology 51: 635–648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jansa SA, Barker FK, Voss RS (2014) The early diversification history of didelphid marsupials: a window into South America’s “splendid isolation.” Evolution 68: 684–695

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones ME, Stoddart DM (1998) Reconstruction of the predatory behaviour of the extinct marsupial thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). J Zool 246(2): 239-246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladevèze S, Selva C, de Muizon C (2020) What are “opossum-like” fossils? The phylogeny of herpetotheriid and peradectid metatherians, based on new features from the petrosal anatomy. J Syst Palaeont 18(17): 1463-1479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lillegraven JA (1975) Biological considerations of the marsupial placental dichotomy. Evolution 29:707–722

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Luo Z-X, Ji Q, Wible JR, Yuan C-X (2003) An Early Cretaceous Tribosphenic Mammal and Metatherian Evolution. Sci 302: 1934–1940

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Luo Z-X, Yuan CX, Meng QJ, Ji Q (2011) A Jurassic eutherian mammal and divergence of marsupials and placentals. Nature 476: 442–445

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall LG (1978) Dromiciops australis. Mammalian Species (99): 1-5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin GM (2017) The palmar and plantar anatomy of Dromiciops gliroides Thomas, 1894 (Marsupialia, Microbiotheria) and its relationship to Australian marsupials. J Mammal Evol 26(1): 51-60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meredith RW, Krajewski C, Westerman M, Springer MS (2009) Relationships and divergence times among the orders and families of Marsupialia. Mus North Ariz Bull 65: 383–406

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell KJ, Pratt RC, Watson LN, Gibb GC, Llamas B, Kasper M, Edson J, Hopwood B, Male D, Armstrong KN, Meyer N, Hofreiter M, Austin J, Donnellan SC, Lee MSY, Phillips MJ, Cooper A (2014) Molecular phylogeny, biogeography, and habitat preference evolution of marsupials. Mol Biol Evol 31: 2322–2330

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morales MM, Giannini NP (2021) Pleistocene extinction and geographic singularity explain differences in global felid ensemble structure. Evol Ecol 35(2): 271-289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ojala-Barbour R, Pinto CM, J Brito M, L Albuja V, Lee Jr TE, Patterson BD (2013) A new species of shrew-opossum (Paucituberculata: Caenolestidae) with a phylogeny of extant caenolestids. J Mammal 94(5): 967-982

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson BD (2015) Caenolestidae (shrew-opossums). In: Wilson DE, Mittermeier RA (eds) Handbook of the Mammals of the World. 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp. 188–197

  • Porto A, Shirai LT, de Oliveira FB, Marroig G (2013) Size variation, growth strategies, and the evolution of modularity in the mammalian skull. Evolution 67(11): 3305-3322

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prevosti FJ, Turazzini GF, Ercoli MD, Hingst-Zaher E (2011) Mandible shape in marsupial and placental carnivorous mammals: a morphological comparative study using geometric morphometrics. Zool J Linn Soc Lond 164: 836–855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2020) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Available from https://www.R-project.org/

  • Rao CR (1964) The use and interpretation of principal component analysis in applied research. Sankhya A 26: 329–358

    Google Scholar 

  • Reig OA (1955) Noticia preliminar sobre la presencia de micro-biotherinos vivientes en la fauna sudamericana. Investig Zool Chil 2: 121-130

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg HI, Richardson KC (1995) Cephalic morphology of the honey possum, Tarsipes rostratus (Marsupialia: Tarsipedidae); an obligate nectarivore. J Morph 223(3): 303-323

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rose RW (1989) Embryonic growth rates of marsupials with a note on monotremes. J. Zool. Lond. 218: 11-16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rougier GW, Wible JR, Novacek MJ (1998) Implications of Deltatheridium specimens for early marsupial history. Nature 396(6710): 459-463

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe T (1988) Definition, diagnosis, and origin of Mammalia. J Vert Paleont 8(3): 241-264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shirai LT, Marroig G (2010) Skull modularity in neotropical marsupials and monkeys: size variation and evolutionary constraint and flexibility. J Exp Zool Part B: Mol Dev Evol 314(8): 663-683

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sidlauskas B (2008) Continuous and arrested morphological diversification in sister clades of characiform fishes: a phylomorphospace approach. Evolution 62(12): 3135-3156

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stayton CT (2015) The definition, recognition, and interpretation of convergent evolution, and two new measures for quantifying and assessing the significance of convergence. Evolution 69: 2140–2153

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stayton CT (2018) convevol: analysis of convergent evolution. R package version 1.3. Available from https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=convevol

  • Strömberg CAE (2011) Evolution of grasses and grassland ecosystems. Ann Rev Earth Planet Sci 39: 517-544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szalay FS (1982) A new appraisal of marsupial phylogeny and classification. In: Archer M (ed) Carnivorous Marsupials. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, New South Wales, Australia, pp. 621–640

    Google Scholar 

  • Szalay FS (1994) Evolutionary History of the Marsupials and an Analysis of Osteological Characters. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tamura J, Ingram J, Martin AM, Burridge CP, Carver S (2021) Contrasting population manipulations reveal resource competition between two large marsupials: bare-nosed wombats and eastern grey kangaroos. Oecologia 1–13.

  • Ter Braak CJF (1995) Ordination. In: Jongman RHG, ter Braak CFJ, van Tongeren OFR (eds) Data analysis in community and landscape ecology. Pudoc, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp. 91–173

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ter Braak CFJ, Šmilauer P (1998) CANOCO reference manual and user’s guide to CANOCO forWindows: Software for canonical community ordination, version 4.0. Microcomputer Power, Ithaca, New York.

  • Travouillon KJ, Gurovich Y, Beck RMD, Muirhead J (2010) An exceptionally well-preserved short-snouted bandicoot (Marsupialia; Peramelemorphia) from Riversleigh's Oligo-Miocene deposits, northwestern Queensland, Australia. J Vert Paleont 30(5): 1528-1546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Travouillon KJ, Simoes BF, Miguez RP, Brace S, Brewer P, Stemmer D, Price GJ, Cramb J, Louys J (2019) Hidden in plain sight: reassessment of the pig-footed bandicoot, Chaeropus ecaudatus (Peramelemorphia, Chaeropodidae), with a description of a new species from central Australia, and use of the fossil record to trace its past distribution. Zootaxa 4566(1): 1-69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voss RS, Jansa SA (2009) Phylogenetic relationships and classification of didelphid marsupials, an extant radiation of New World metatherian mammals. Bull Amer Mus Nat Hist 322: 1-177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voss, R. S. and S. A. Jansa. 2021. Opossums: An Adaptive Radiation of New World Marsupials. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Van Dyck S, Strahan R (2008) The Mammals of Australia. Reed New Holland, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson TE, Stephen L. Brusatte, Thomas D. Carr, Anne Weil & Barbara R. Standhardt (2012) The phylogeny and evolution of Cretaceous–Palaeogene metatherians: cladistic analysis and description of new early Palaeocene specimens from the Nacimiento Formation, New Mexico. J Syst Palaeont 10(4): 625-651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weisbecker V, Beck R (2015) Marsupial and monotreme evolution and biogeography. In: Klieve A, Hogan L, Johnston S, Murray P (eds) Marsupials and monotremes: Nature’s Enigmatic Mammals. Nova Science Publishers, New York, NY, pp. 1-25

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisbecker V, Rowe T, Wroe S, Macrini TE, Garland KLS, Travouillon KJ, Black K, Archer M, Hand SJ, Berlin JC, Beck RMD, Ladevèze S, Sharp AC, Mardon K, Sherratt E (2021) Global elongation and high shape flexibility as an evolutionary hypothesis of accommodating mammalian brains into skulls. Evolution 75(3): 625-640

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Werdelin L (1988) Circumventing a constraint - the case of Thylacoleo (Marsupialia, Thylacoleonidae). Aust J Zool 36: 565–571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodburne MO (2010) The Great American Biotic Interchange: dispersals, tectonics, climate, sea level and holding pens. J Mammal Evol 17(4): 245-264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells R (2015) Vombatidae (Wombats). In: Wilson DE, Mittermeier RA (eds) Handbook of the Mammals of the World. 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp. 418-43

Download references

Acknowledgements

We dedicate this paper to John R. Wible, master anatomist of living and fossil mammals, evolutionary biologist, and the best teacher of mammalian morphology. We thank the curators who allowed the examination of material under their care: Sergio Lucero of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales (Buenos Aires); Bruce Patterson and Bill Stanley of the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago); Kris Helgen, Darrin Lunde, and Linda Gordon of the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.); Rob Voss and Eileen Westwig of the American Museum of Natural History (New York); Paula Jenkins of the British Natural History Museum (London); Sandy Ingleby of the Australian Museum (Sydney); Kenny Travouillon of the Western Australian Museum (Perth); Joao Alves de Oliveira of the Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro); and Mario de Vivo of the Museu do Zoologia Universidad do São Paulo (São Paulo). Justin Adams (Monash University) helped with important specimens. This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) of Argentina; Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Argentina (ANPCyT), Argentina, funding of PICT 2015-2389 (to NPG, DAF and NFA), PICT 2016-3682 (to NPG), and PICT 2018-1237 (to MMM); Fundación Miguel Lillo, Argentina, project Z-0082-13 (to DAF); and Australian Research Council DE150100862 and FT200100822 (to LABW).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CONICET Fundacion Miguel Lillo, Unidad Ejecutora Lillo UEL, Tucumán, Argentina

    Norberto P. Giannini, Fernando Abdala & David A. Flores

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e, Instituto Miguel Lillo, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Norberto P. Giannini

  3. Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA

    Norberto P. Giannini & Paúl M. Velazco

  4. Técnicas (CONICET), Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas (INECOA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas Y, Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, Jujuy, Argentina

    Miriam M. Morales

  5. Centro de Estudios Territoriales Ambientales Y Sociales, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, Jujuy, Argentina

    Miriam M. Morales

  6. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Laura A. B. Wilson

  7. School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Laura A. B. Wilson

  8. Department of Biology, Arcadia University, Glenside, PA, USA

    Paúl M. Velazco

  9. Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Fernando Abdala

  10. Instituto de Vertebrados, Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán, Argentina

    David A. Flores

Authors
  1. Norberto P. Giannini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Miriam M. Morales
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Laura A. B. Wilson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Paúl M. Velazco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Fernando Abdala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. David A. Flores
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Norberto P. Giannini.

Supplementary Information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Giannini, N.P., Morales, M.M., Wilson, L.A.B. et al. The Cranial Morphospace of Extant Marsupials. J Mammal Evol 28, 1145–1160 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-021-09589-y

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-021-09589-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation