Dasyuridae

The Dasyuridae are a family of marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, including 71 extant species divided into 17 genera. Many are small and mouse-like or shrew-like, giving some of them the name marsupial mice or marsupial shrews, but the group also includes the cat-sized quolls, as well as the Tasmanian devil. They are found in a wide range of habitats, including grassland, underground, forests, and mountains. Some species are arboreal or semiaquatic. The Dasyuridae are often called the 'marsupial carnivores', as most members of the family are insectivores.

Dasyuridae

arndbergmann · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
DasyuroideaPBDB
Diet
insectivore, carnivorePBDB
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Marsupialia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 225 occurrencesOligocene — about 3 of 225 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 3 of 225 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 22 of 225 occurrencesPleistocene — about 187 of 225 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences4.6–3.5 Mya — about 9 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 19 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 49 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 137 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

225 occurrences of Dasyuridae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

225 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

12 formations

Moorna Sandstone — 34.13°S, 141.62°EMoorna — 34.12°S, 141.65°EGrange Burn — 37.70°S, 141.95°EGrange Burn — 37.73°S, 141.95°EChinchilla Sand — 26.75°S, 150.63°EChinchilla Sand — 26.80°S, 150.68°EMoorabool Viaduct Sand — 38.12°S, 144.28°ENelson Bay — 38.60°S, 141.58°EWyandotte — 18.77°S, 144.85°ENamba — 31.23°S, 140.23°EEtadunna — 29.33°S, 137.50°EKatipiri — 28.39°S, 138.32°ED Clay — 35.70°S, 144.83°EOtibanda — 7.21°S, 146.75°E

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The named rock units Dasyuridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 200 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dasyuridae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Dasyuridae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

506 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 71 sites for Dasyuridae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

54 references

Each of the 225 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 42 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Dasyuridae

Credit
arndbergmann
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Dasyuridae indet. · SAMA:Mammalogy:M2816

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDasyuroidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Goldfuss 1820