Pucadelphys
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Pucadelphys Temporal range: Paleocene |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Clade: | Marsupialiformes |
| Genus: |
†Pucadelphys Marshall & de Muizon, 1988 |
| Type species | |
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Pucadelphys andinus Marshall & de Muizon, 1988 |
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Pucadelphys is an extinct genus of non-marsupial metatherian species. The genus contains a single species, P. andinus. Fossils of Pucadelphys have been found at Tiupampa in Bolivia.
Pucadelphys is small and likely to have eaten insects. It had a long tail, although incomplete on the best preserved fossils. It is possible that the tail was longer than (or at least as long as) its body. 17 vertebrae were preserved, and its estimated that there was 5 to 10 additional vertebrae originally. It is regarded as partially arboreal, and partially terrestrial.
A 2016 phylogenetic analysis recovered Pucadelphys as a member of a metatherian clade including sparassodonts and other south american taxa, but not marsupials (which are instead closer to Cretaceous North American species). The phylogenetic tree from the analysis is shown below.
Pucadelphys
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