Hondadelphys
| Hondadelphys | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Basicranium of Hondadelphys | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Sparassodonta |
| Family: | †Hondadelphidae Marshall et al., 1990 |
| Genus: | †Hondadelphys Marshall, 1976 |
| Type species | |
| Hondadelphys fieldsi Marshall, 1976 | |
Hondadelphys is an extinct monotypic genus of carnivorous sparassodonts, known from the Middle Miocene of Colombia. The type species, H. fieldsi, was described in 1976 from the fossil locality of La Venta, which hosts fossils from the Villavieja Formation.[1]
Taxonomy
[edit]Hondadelphys was originally interpreted as belonging to the opossum family Didelphidae, but subsequently assigned to its own family, Hondadelphidae and interpreted as a basal sparassodont.[2]
Etymology
[edit]The genus name refers to the Honda Group, the stratigraphic group in which the fossils of this animal were first found, combined with delphys (Greek for "womb", a common suffix used for opossum-like metatherians).[1]
Palaeobiology
[edit]Diet
[edit]Unlike other sparassodonts, Hondadelphys occupied a morphospace close to some hypercarnivorous canids and omnivorous feliforms.[3]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Marshall, Larry G. (1976). "New Didelphine Marsupials from the La Venta Fauna (Miocene) of Colombia, South America". Journal of Paleontology. 50 (3): 402–418. JSTOR 1303521.
- ↑ Goin, Francisco (2003). "Early Marsupial Radiations in South America". In Jones, Menna; Archer, Mike; Dickman, Chris (eds.). Predators with Pouches : The Biology of Carnivorous Marsupials. Collingwood (Victoria): CSIRO. ISBN 978-0643066342.
- ↑ Croft, Darin Andrew; Engelman, Russell K.; Dolgushina, Tatiana; Wesley, Gina (10 January 2018). "Diversity and disparity of sparassodonts (Metatheria) reveal non-analogue nature of ancient South American mammalian carnivore guilds". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 285 (1870): 20172012. doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.2012. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 5784193. PMID 29298933. Retrieved 3 October 2026 – via The Royal Society Publishing.
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