Craniodental Morphology And Phylogeny Of Marsupials Author Beck, Robin M. D. School of Science, Engineering and Environment University of Salford, U. K. & School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences University of New South Wales, Australia & Division of Vertebrate Zoology (Mammalogy) American Museum of Natural History Author Voss, Robert S. Division of Vertebrate Zoology (Mammalogy) American Museum of Natural History Author Jansa, Sharon A. Bell Museum and Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior University of Minnesota text Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2022 2022-06-28 2022 457 1 353 https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-american-museum-of-natural-history/volume-457/issue-1/0003-0090.457.1.1/Craniodental-Morphology-and-Phylogeny-of-Marsupials/10.1206/0003-0090.457.1.1.full journal article 10.1206/0003-0090.457.1.1 0003-0090 6971356 † Mutpuracinus SPECIES SCORED: † Mutpuracinus archibaldi ( type and only described species). GEOLOGICAL PROVENANCE OF SCORED SPECIMENS : Bullock Creek Local Fauna, Camfield Beds, Northern Territory , Australia ; Jaw Junction Site (Riversleigh Faunal Zone D), Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Queensland , Australia . AGE OF SCORED SPECIMENS: based on biostratigraphy, the Bullock Creek Local Fauna is interpreted to be middle Miocene (Murray and Megirian, 1992; Megirian et al., 2010; Black et al., 2013; Schwartz, 2016; Trusler and Sharp, 2016), whereas Riversleigh Faunal Zone D is considered to be somewhat younger, namely early late Miocene, perhaps 10–12 Mya (Archer et al., 1989, 1994, 1995; Myers et al., 2001; Black et al., 2012b, 2013; Woodhead et al., 2014; Arena et al., 2015). In the absence of direct dates, we have conservatively assumed the entire span of the middle to late Miocene (Langhian to Messinian; Cohen et al., 2013 [updated]) for this taxon. ASSIGNED AGE RANGE : 15.970 –5.333 Mya. REMARKS: † Mutpuracinus archibaldi was originally described by Murray and Megirian (2000) based on fragmentary craniodental material from the Bullock Creek Local Fauna. Subsequently, a relatively complete, albeit somewhat disarticulated, skull ( NTM P91168 -5) was recovered from the Jaw Junction Site at Riversleigh (Murray and Megirian, 2006a). Murray and Megirian (2000, 2006a) identified † Mutpuracinus as a thylacinid, but its position was unstable in their phylogenetic analyses (Murray and Megirian, 2006a: appendix 2, figs. 2–4); notably, it was recovered as closer to Recent dasyurids than to thylacinids when added to the craniodental character matrix of Wroe and Musser (2001; see Murray and Megirian, 2006a: appendix 2 fig. 2B). The phylogenetic analyses of Archer et al. (2016), Kealy and Beck (2017), and Rovinsky et al. (2019) also did not support thylacinid affinities for † Mutpuracinus , and we follow the last two studies in considering this taxon to be Dasyuromorphia incertae sedis . Regardless of its true phylogenetic relationships, the craniodental morphology of † Mutpuracinus implies previously unsuspected dasyuromorphian homoplasy in either the dentition or auditory region, or both (Murray and Megirian, 2006a).