Peradectidae

Peradectidae is a family of small metatherian mammals, spanning from the Paleocene to the Oligocene and possibly the Miocene. Fossils are known from the Northern Hemisphere, including Europe, North America and possibly Asia. The monophyly of the group has been questioned, with some authors suggesting that Peradectes should be the only genus placed in the family, though a 2026 study recovered a core grouping of peradectids as monophyletic, including Peradectes, Golerdelphys, Europeradectes, Mimoperadectes, Armintodelphys, Nanodelphys and Didelphidectes, spanning from the Paleocene to Early Oligocene of North America and early Eocene of Europe. The morphology of peradectids has been considered to be similar to opossums, with at least some exhibiting morphology suggesting a tree dwelling arboreal/scansorial lifestyle. Their diet is suggested to have included insects and fruit. The youngest representatives of the family have been suggested to be Siamoperadectes and Sinoperadectes from the Early Miocene of China and Thailand, but their placement as peradectids and even as metatherians has been questioned, with a 2026 study suggesting that they were eutherians instead.

Peradectidae

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
MarsupialiaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Marsupialia
Life habit
scansorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 63 million years on record.

The record covers at least 83.6 Mya to 20.45 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 89.8 Mya to 13.82 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 8 of 253 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 51 of 253 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 176 of 253 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 15 of 253 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 3 of 253 occurrencesMiocene91–89 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences89–86 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences86–83 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences83–81 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences81–78 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences78–76 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences76–73 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences73–70 Mya — about 1 occurrence70–68 Mya — about 1 occurrence68–65 Mya — about 5 occurrences65–62 Mya — about 8 occurrences62–60 Mya — about 11 occurrences60–57 Mya — about 20 occurrences57–54 Mya — about 27 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 32 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 25 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 17 occurrences47–44 Mya — about 23 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 26 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 22 occurrences39–36 Mya — about 8 occurrences36–33 Mya — about 6 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 6 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 3 occurrences28–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences83.6 Mya20.45 Mya91 Mya12 Mya

253 occurrences of Peradectidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

253 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

57 formations

Willwood — 44.78°N, 108.97°WWillwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.77°N, 109.08°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.54°WWillwood — 44.76°N, 108.88°WWillwood — 44.16°N, 107.87°WWillwood — 44.15°N, 107.86°WFriars — 32.90°N, 117.10°WFriars — 32.78°N, 117.07°WFort Union — 43.85°N, 108.35°WFort Union — 41.70°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 46.90°N, 103.90°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.38°WFort Union — 44.89°N, 108.91°WFort Union — 43.20°N, 107.10°WFort Union — 45.10°N, 106.90°WFort Union — 45.40°N, 105.60°WFort Union — 43.45°N, 109.16°WFort Union — 41.92°N, 108.56°WFort Union — 45.20°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.62°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WFort Union — 41.83°N, 108.60°WBridger — 41.70°N, 109.00°WBridger — 42.70°N, 110.10°WBridger — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WBridger — 41.08°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 41.75°N, 108.00°WWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WWagon Bed ("Tepee Trail") — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 44.00°N, 106.60°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.33°WCypress Hills — 50.20°N, 107.60°WCypress Hills — 50.00°N, 107.90°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WCypress Hills — 49.80°N, 109.00°WNacimiento — 36.31°N, 108.00°WNacimiento — 36.30°N, 108.20°WNacimiento — 35.70°N, 107.00°WPaskapoo — 52.40°N, 113.80°WPaskapoo — 51.18°N, 114.43°WPaskapoo — 51.50°N, 112.30°WPaskapoo — 52.20°N, 113.60°WPaskapoo — 52.35°N, 113.77°WSantiago — 33.40°N, 117.51°WSantiago — 33.19°N, 117.32°WSantiago — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSespe — 34.30°N, 119.00°WSespe — 33.83°N, 117.71°WMission Valley — 32.90°N, 117.10°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBrule — 41.70°N, 103.10°WSarmiento — 44.42°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.67°WDeBeque — 39.70°N, 107.60°WChadron — 46.10°N, 103.30°WChadron — 42.40°N, 103.80°WChadron — 42.75°N, 103.65°WRenova — 46.40°N, 112.80°WRenova — 46.65°N, 113.05°WOldman — 49.10°N, 110.94°WOldman — 49.19°N, 110.73°WLas Flores — 45.60°S, 69.08°WGoler — 35.55°N, 117.83°WGoler — 35.50°N, 117.77°WRavenscrag — 49.70°N, 110.10°WRavenscrag — 49.06°N, 102.75°WGreen River — 40.20°N, 109.90°WStadium — 32.78°N, 117.15°WStadium — 32.80°N, 117.12°W

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The named rock units Peradectidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 33 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 22 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Peradectidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Peradectidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

2,543 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 227 sites for Peradectidae, 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

107 references

Each of the 253 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. 95 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 content1

Picture of Peradectidae

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Peradectidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itMarsupialia through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Crochet 1979)