Hondadelphys
Appearance
Hondadelphys | |
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Scientific classification | |
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Family: | Hondadelphidae Marshall et al. 1990
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Genus: | Hondadelphys Marshall, 1976
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Type species | |
Hondadelphys fieldsi Marshall, 1976
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Hondadelphys fieldsi is an extinct carnivorous sparassodont, known from the mid-Miocene of Colombia. H. fieldsi, was described in 1976 from the fossil locality of La Venta, which hosts fossils from the Villavieja Formation.[1] 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] 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]
References
- ^ a b Marshall, Larry G. (1976). "New Didelphine Marsupials from the La Venta Fauna (Miocene) of Colombia, South America". Journal of Paleontology. 50 (3): 402–418. doi:10.2307/1303521. 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 0643066349.