Dasyuridae Goldfuss, 1820

Beck, Robin M. D., Voss, Robert S. & Jansa, Sharon A., 2022, Craniodental Morphology And Phylogeny Of Marsupials, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2022 (457), pp. 1-353 : 220-224

Dasyuridae Goldfuss, 1820

CONTENTS: Antechinomys , Antechinus , Dasycercus , Dasykaluta , Dasyuroides , Dasyurus , Micromurexia , Murexechinus , Murexia , Myoictis , Neophascogale , Ningaui , Paramurexia , Parantechinus , Phascogale , Phascolosorex , Phascomurexia , Planigale , Pseudantechinus (fig. 42), Sarcophilus , and Sminthopsis .

STEM AGE: 24.9 Mya (95% HPD: 21.8–29.4 Mya).

CROWN AGE: 17.8 Mya (95% HPD: 16.1–20.1 Mya).

UNAMBIGUOUS CRANIODENTAL SYNAPOMORPHIES: Postorbital processes absent or indistinct (char. 18: 1→0; ci = 0.042); scars of M. temporalis origin on braincase not fused middorsally to form sagittal crest in adults (char. 27: 1→0; ci = 0.059); interparietal absent, very small, or polymorphic (char. 30: 1→0; ci = 0.250); palatines separated from presphenoid by vomerine-pterygoid contact (char. 45: 0→1; ci = 0.125) caudal and rostral tympanic processes of petrosal seamlessly fused, forming a petrosal plate (char. 68: 0→2; ci = 0.154); facial nerve exits middle ear via a stylomastoid foramen formed by the rostral and caudal tympanic processes of the petrosal (char. 79: 0→3; ci = 0.625); and P3 erupts after M4 (char. 130: 4→0; ci = 0.089).

COMMENTS: We follow Kealy and Beck’s (2017: table 1 ) definition of Dasyuridae , namely the most inclusive clade including Dasyurus viverrinus , but excluding Myrmecobius fasciatus and Thylacinus cynocephalus . Dasyuridae is characterized by seven unambiguous craniodental synapomorphies, of which perhaps the most striking are the marked reduction in size or loss of the interparietal (this bone is present and markedly larger in other dasyuromorphians), the presence of a petrosal plate (absent in other dasyuromorphians) and presence of a stylomastoid foramen formed by the rostral and caudal tympanic processes of the petrosal (the facial nerve exits the middle ear by a notch rather than a fully enclosed foramen in other dasyuromorphians; Archer, 1976b; Wroe, 1997 b, 1999).

The fossil † Barinya wangala , from early Miocene (Faunal Zone B) and middle Miocene (Faunal Zone C) sites at Riversleigh World Heritage Area, was described as the most plesiomorphic known dasyurid by Wroe (1999), but it retains a large interparietal and lacks both a petrosal plate and a stylomastoid foramen. As previously discussed, † Barinya was recovered by our dated total-evidence analysis ( fig. 33) in a clade with Myrmecobius and † Mutpuracinus (originally described as a thylacinid; Murray and Megirian, 2000; 2006a). Kealy and Beck (2017) likewise found no support for the notion that † Barinya is a dasyurid.

Black et al. (2012b: 1020) discussed “probable phascogalines and dasyurines” from the early Miocene (Faunal Zone B) of Riversleigh World Heritage Area; these specimens are potentially significant for understanding the timing of dasyurid diversification, but they have yet to be described. At present, the oldest known definitive dasyurids are probable-Pliocene taxa that have been associated with Recent tribes or genera, including “ Dasyuroides ” † achilpatna (which may, in fact, be more closely related to Dasycercus than to Dasyuroides ; Kealy and Beck, 2017) and Sarcophilus † moornaensis from the Fisherman’s Cliff Local Fauna ( Archer, 1982b; Crabb, 1982), “ Dasycercus ” † worboysi and unnamed “ Antechinus ” and Sminthopsis specimens from the Big Sink Local Fauna ( Dawson et al., 1999), † Archerium chinchillaensis (a probable dasyurin) from the Chinchilla Local Fauna ( Wroe and Mackness, 2000a; Louys and Price, 2015), Dasyurus † dunmalli from multiple Pliocene sites ( Bartholomai, 1971a; Archer, 1982b; Wroe and Mackness, 1998, 2000b; Louys and Price, 2015), † Glaucodon ballaratensis (a probable relative of Sarcophilus ) from sites at Smeaton and Batesford in Victoria ( Stirton, 1957; Archer, 1982b; Gerdtz and Archbold, 2003; Piper et al., 2006), Planigale sp. from the Bluff Downs Local Fauna ( Archer, 1982b), and “ Antechinus ” sp. (probably a relative of Murexia sensu lato; see Kealy and Beck, [2017: 16]) from the Hamilton Local Fauna ( Archer, 1982b).

Within Dasyuridae , our dated total-evidence analysis ( fig. 33) is congruent with recent published molecular and total-evidence analyses ( Mitchell et al., 2014; May-Collado et al., 2015; Westerman et al., 2016; Kealy and Beck, 2017; García-Navas et al., 2020; ÁlvarezCarretero et al., 2021) in supporting a basal split between Dasyurinae and Sminthopsinae, with each of these subfamilies comprised of two tribes: Dasyurini and Phascogalini within Dasyurinae and Sminthopsini and Planigalini within Sminthopsinae. The contents of these tribes and relationships within them recovered by our molecular (figs. 27–29) and total-evidence (figs. 32, 33) analyses are also in agreement with the published results of most recent molecular and total-evidence studies ( Mitchell et al., 2014; Westerman et al., 2016; Kealy and Beck, 2017; García-Navas et al., 2020; ÁlvarezCarretero et al., 2021) 33.

Our estimated divergence times within Dasyuridae are younger than those estimated by recent molecular-clock studies ( Mitchell et al., 2014; Westerman et al., 2016; Álvarez-Carretero et al., 2021) and are younger even than the dated total-evidence analyses of Kealy and Beck (2017), but they are similar to those of the dated totalevidence analysis of García-Navas et al. (2020). If correct, these dates suggest that cladogenesis within modern dasyurid tribes did not occur until the late Miocene onward. This is congruent with the apparently sudden appearance in the fossil record of identifiable representatives of modern dasyurid tribes and and genera in the early Pliocene, as summarized above.