page_title: List of mammals of Mexico
section_title: Infraclass: Metatheria
hierarchical_section_title: List of mammals of Mexico / Subclass: Theria / Infraclass: Metatheria
caption_attribution_description: English: Tlacuatzin canescens - Gray Mouse Opossum
context_page_description: This is a list of the native wild mammal species recorded in Mexico. As of September 2014, there were 536 mammalian species or subspecies listed. Based on IUCN data, Mexico has 23% more noncetacean mammal species than the U.S. and Canada combined in an area only 10% as large, or a species density over 12 times that of its northern neighbors. Mexico's high mammal biodiversity is in part a reflection of the wide array of biomes present over its latitudinal, climatic and altitudinal ranges, from lowland tropical rainforest to temperate desert to montane forest to alpine tundra. The general increase in terrestrial biodiversity moving towards the equator is another important factor in the comparison. Mexico includes much of the Mesoamerican and Madrean pine-oak woodlands biodiversity hotspots. From a biogeographic standpoint, most of Mexico is linked to the rest of North America as part of the Nearctic realm. However, the lowlands of southern Mexico are linked with Central America and South America as part of the Neotropical realm.
context_section_description: Marsupials are an infraclass of pouched mammals that was once more widely distributed. Today they are found primarily in isolated or formerly isolated continents of Gondwanan origin. Mexico's opossums are relatively recent immigrants from South America. Mexico's 7 marsupial genera compare to 1 in North America north of Mexico, 10 in Central America, 22 in South America, 52 in Australia, 28 in New Guinea and 2 in Sulawesi. South American marsupials are thought to be ancestral to those of Australia and elsewhere.
caption: Grayish mouse opossum
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