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The latter subclass is divided into two infraclasses: pouched mammals (metatherians or marsupials), and placental mammals (eutherians, for which see List of placental mammals). Classification updated from Wilson and Reeder's "Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference" using the "Planet Mammifères" website. [1]
The pouch is a distinguishing feature of female marsupials and monotremes, [1] [2] [3] and rarely in males as well, such as in the yapok [4] and the extinct thylacine.
A pouch is present in most species. Many marsupials have a permanent bag, while in others such as the shrew opossum the pouch develops during gestation, where the young are hidden only by skin folds or in the maternal fur. The arrangement of the pouch is variable to allow the offspring to receive maximum protection.
Cheek pouches are pockets on both sides of the head of some mammals between the jaw and the cheek. They can be found on mammals including the platypus , some rodents , and most monkeys , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] as well as the marsupial koala . [ 3 ]
The second subclass is divided into two infraclasses: pouched mammals (the marsupials) and placental mammals. Australia is home to two of the five extant species of monotremes and the majority of the world's marsupials (the remainder are from Papua New Guinea , eastern Indonesia and the Americas ).
Australia is also home to the world's largest and most diverse selection of marsupials: mammals with a pouch in which they rear their young. The marsupial carnivores — order Dasyuromorphia — are represented by two surviving families: the Dasyuridae with 51 members, and the Myrmecobiidae with the numbat as its sole surviving member.
Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described—of which around 1 million are insects—but it has been estimated there are over 7 million in total. Animals range in size from 8.5 millionths of a metre to 33.6 metres (110 ft) long and have complex interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs .
Females have >8 teats and develop a pouch during the breeding season, which opens toward the tail (with the exception of the spotted-tailed quoll, which has a true pouch) when they are rearing young. Their natural lifespans are 1–5 years; the larger species tend to live longer.
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