Mammals from 'down under': a multi-gene species-level phylogeny of marsupial mammals (Mammalia, Metatheria).

ABSTRACT: Marsupials or metatherians are a group of mammals that are distinct in giving birth to young at early stages of development and in having a prolonged investment in lactation. The group consists of nearly 350 extant species, including kangaroos, koala, possums, and their relatives. Marsupials are an old lineage thought to have diverged from early therian mammals some 160 million years ago in the Jurassic, and have a remarkable evolutionary and biogeographical history, with extant species restricted to the Americas, mostly South America, and to Australasia. Although the group has been the subject of decades of phylogenetic research, the marsupial tree of life remains controversial, with most studies focusing on only a fraction of the species diversity within the infraclass. Here we present t

SUBMITTER: May-Collado LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4349131 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature