Abstract
THE vexed question as to the real affinities of the marsupial-like carnivores of the Santa Cruz beds of Patagonia has once more been brought prominently to the front by the appearance of a memoir on their osteology and dentition in the fourth volume of the reports of the Princeton Expedition of 1896–9 to Patagonia. In this memoir the author, Mr. W. J. Sinclair, takes up a very decided position, remarking that these so-called sparassodonts (as represented by Prothylacinus, Borhyeena, Amphiproviverra, &c.) possess a number of characters either peculiar to marsupials or common to that group and only a few other orders. These, it is urged, will convince the reader that sparassodonts are true carnivorous marsupials, not worthy of even separate subordinal rank. Mr. Sinclair goes, however, even farther than this, and considers himself justified in including the Patagonian carnivores in the same family group as the existing Tasmanian pouched wolf or thylacine, which he separates from the Dasyuridee under the designation of Thylacinide (or Thylacynid). It is added that, “although there is sufficient similarity in structure to warrant placing the Patagonian and Tasmanian thylacines in the same family, it must not be inferred that the existing genus is the direct descendant of its extinct South American forerunners. The study of the group has failed to show a closer relationship than probable descent from a common Santa Cruz ancestor. While retaining the fundamental family characters, both lines have diverged, and in some respects the Santa Cruz forms are more advanced than the existing genus.”
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L., R. Marsupials or Creodonts? . Nature 75, 498–499 (1907). https://doi.org/10.1038/075498a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/075498a0