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Comparing early Oligocene Leptictis and the long-nosed bandicoot, Perameles

Saturday, August 8, 2026 22:01

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These two taxa
extant Perameles (Figs 1, 2) and extinct Leptictis (Fig 1), have quite similar skulls in several views. Those are just some of the reasons why these two nest together in the large reptile tree (LRT, 2340 taxa). The post-crania (Figs 2, 3) are also comparable and distinct from other taxa.

Figure 1. Perameles, at left, is the extant marsupial bandicoot from Australia. Leptictis, at right, is from the Early Oligocene of North America.

Leptictis acutidens
(Leidy 1868, Rose 2006, Novacek 1986, early Oligocene) is now an extinct bandicoot relative in the LRT. The tiny manus appears to have only three digits, but the medial and lateral digits were tiny and may have been lost during retrieval. Such a pattern appears in kangaroos, too, apparently by convergence. Note the large calcaneal heel, a trait usually found in digitigrade running mammals.

Figure 2. Perameles nasuta, the long-nosed bandicoot, nests as basal member of the herbivorous marsupials.

Perameles nasuta
(Geoffroy 1803, 1804, extant, 40 cm long) is the long nosed bandicoot. This basal marsupial is a nocturnal omnivore. It has a rear-facing pouch, three long digging fingers, two short ones and a pes dominated by pedal digit 4. Digits 2 and 3 were reduced to grooming claws. Gestation lasts a mere 12.5 days, then the young spend another 8 weeks in the marsupium. The long nosed may be a new trait, given its interrelationship to Leptictis (Figs 1, 2).

Figure 3. Leptictis, an early Oligocene bandicoot. This interrelationship explains the loss of fingers and toes in this taxon, unless due to taphonomic loss.

This match
took far too long to put together. Given their basal position in the LRT, both taxa likely had deep origins = dichotomy back in the Jurassic. Either that, or MAJOR convergence.

References
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire E 1804. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, 4:62. online
Leidy J 1868. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 20:316.
Novacek MJ 1986. The skull of leptictid insectivorans and the higher-level classification of eutherian mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 183(1):112pp.
Osborn HF 1908. New fossil mammals from the Fayum Oligocene, Egypt. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 24: 265–272.
Rose KD 2006. The postcranial skeleton of early Oligocene Leptictis (Mammalia: Leptictida), with a preliminary comparison to Leptictidium from the middle Eocene of Messel. Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 278(1-6), 37-56.

wiki/Leptictis
wiki/Perameles

Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2026/08/09/comparing-early-oligocene-leptictis-and-the-long-nosed-bandicoot-perameles/

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