Sparassodonta: South America's Pouched Predators

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One particular Metatherian lineage would go on to become South America’s only devoted carnivorous mammals until the Late Miocene arrival of Procyonids; these were the Sparassodonts. Appearing very suddenly in the fossil record during the earliest Paleocene, it was once thought that Sparassodonts were true marsupials, although more recent studies have disproven this, suggesting that they were more basal Marsupialiformes instead. If this is the case, as seems likely, then these animals probably originated during the Late Cretaceous, possibly on the Northern Continents, although no remains dating to this time have so far been found. During the later Cenozoic, Sparassodonts diversified into a wide array of carnivorous forms that displayed anatomical features and body plans that converged on the carnivorans and marsupials present on other continents. Indeed, the whole group included forms that were superficially similar to weasels, quolls, thylacines, wolverines and even sabre-toothed cats.

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