Marsupial

**Marsupial** merupakan satu infrakelas mamalia yang bercirikan anggota badan kantung (*marsupium*) yang digunakan oleh haiwan betina untuk mengangkut anaknya.

## Taksonomi
Dari segi taksonomi, Marsupialia terdiri daripada dua cabang utama: iaitu marsupial Amerika dan marsupial Australia. Order Microbiotheria (yang cuma ada satu spesies, iaitu *[[monito del monte]]*) ditemui di Amerika Selatan tetapi dipercayai lebih erat persaudaraannya dengan marsupial Australia. Terdapat banyak spesies arboreal kecil dalam setiap kumpulan. Untuk membezakan spesies-spesies Amerika Utara dan Australia yang kedua-duanya dikenali sebagai "posum", spesies Amerika Utara sewajarnya dipanggil *oposum* manakala spesies Australia digelar *posum*.

*Superorder Ameridelphia
** Order Didelphimorphia (93 spesies)
*** Famili Didelphidae: oposum
** Order Paucituberculata (6 spesies)
*** Famili Caenolestidae: oposum kesturi
*Superorder Australidelphia
** Order †Yalkaparidontia
** Order Microbiotheria (1 spesies)
*** Famili Microbiotheriidae: *[[monito del monte]]*
** Order Dasyuromorphia (71 spesies)
*** Famili †Thylacinidae: tilasin
*** Famili Dasyuridae: *[[antechinus]]*, *[[quoll]]*, *[[dunnart]]*, momok Tasmania, dan saudara-maranya
*** Famili Myrmecobiidae: numbat
** Order Peramelemorphia (24 spesies)
*** Famili Thylacomyidae: *[[bilby]]*
*** Famili †Chaeropodidae: kusu tanah kaki babi
*** Famili Peramelidae: kusu tanah dan sekutunya
** Order Notoryctemorphia (2 spesies)
*** Famili Notoryctidae: mondok marsupial
** Order Diprotodontia (137 spesies)
*** Famili Phascolarctidae: koala
*** Famili Vombatidae: wombat
*** Famili †Diprotodontidae: diprotodon
*** Famili Phalangeridae: posum ekor berus dan kuskus
*** Famili Burramyidae: posum pigmi
*** Famili Tarsipedidae: posum madu
*** Famili Petauridae: posum belang, posum jambul merah, *[[yellow-bellied glider]]*, *[[sugar glider]]*, *[[mahogany glider]]*, *[[squirrel glider]]*
*** Family Pseudocheiridae: posum ekor gelang dan saudara-mara
*** Family Potoridae: potoroo, kanggaru tikus, bettong
*** Family Acrobatidae: *[[feathertail glider]]* dan posum ekor bulu pelepah
*** Family Hypsiprymnodontidae: kanggaru tikus kesturi
*** Family Macropodidae: kanggaru, walabi dan saudara-mara
*** Family †Thylacoleonidae: singa marsupial
** Order †Sparassodonta

† menandakan kepupusan

## Lihat juga
* Metatheria

## Rujukan

* Tim Flannery (1994),The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People, pages 67–75. ISBN 0-8021-3943-4 ISBN 0-7301-0422-2 
*  Tim Flannery, Country: a continent, a scientist & a kangaroo, pages 196–200. ISBN 1-920885-76-5
* Austin, C.R. ed. Reproduction in Mammals. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press,1982.
* Bronson, F. H. Mammalian Reproductive Biology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
* Dawson, Terrence J. Kangaroos: Biology of Largest Marsupials. New York: Cornell University Press, 1995.
* Frith, H. J. and J. H. Calaby. Kangaroos. New York: Humanities Press, 1969.
* Gould, Edwin and George McKay. Encyclopedia of Mammals. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998.
* Hunsaker, Don. The Biology of Marsupials. New York: Academic Press, 1977.
* Johnson, Martin H. and Barry J. Everitt. Essential Reproduction. Boston: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1984. 
* Knobill, Ernst and Jimmy D. Neill ed. Encyclopedia of Reproduction. V. 3 New York: Academic Press, 1998
* McCullough, Dale R. and Yvette McCullough. Kangaroos in Outback Australia: Comparative Ecology and Behavior of Three Coexisting Species. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
* Taylor, Andrea C. and Paul Sunnucks. Sex of Pouch Young Related to Maternal Weight in Macropus eugeni and M. parma. Australian Journal of Zoology 1997 V. 45 pp. 573–578

## Pautan luar

*The Marsupial Ring
*Western Australian Mammal Species
*Researchers Publish First Marsupial Genome Sequence The National Institutes of Health May 2007
*First marsupial genome released. Most differences between the opossom and placental mammals stem from non-coding DNA