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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]
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 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.
Joeys stay in the pouch for up to a year in some species, or until the next joey is born. A marsupial joey is unable to regulate its body temperature and relies upon an external heat source. Until the joey is well-furred and old enough to leave the pouch, a pouch temperature of 30–32 °C (86–90 °F) must be constantly maintained.
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 ).
Monotremes (/ ˈ m ɒ n ə t r iː m z /) are mammals of the order Monotremata.They are the only group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live young.The extant monotreme species are the platypus and the four species of echidnas.
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.
The class Mammalia is divided into two subclasses based on reproductive techniques: monotremes, which lay eggs, and therians, mammals which give live birth, which has two infraclasses: marsupials/metatherians and placentals/eutherians.