Burramyidae

The pygmy possums are a family of small possums that together form the marsupial family Burramyidae. The five extant species of pygmy possum are grouped into two genera. Four of the species are endemic to Australia, with one species also co-occurring in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

Burramyidae

John Gould · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
pygmy possumPBDB
Sits inside
PhalangeriformesPBDB
Diet
insectivore, frugivorePBDB
Life habit
arborealPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 42 occurrencesOligocene — about 2 of 42 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 6 of 42 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 42 occurrencesPleistocene — about 29 of 42 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.6–3.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 24 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

42 occurrences of Burramyidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

42 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

2 formations

Grange Burn — 37.70°S, 141.95°EGrange Burn — 37.73°S, 141.95°EWipajiri — 27.75°S, 140.73°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Burramyidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 39 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Burramyidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Burramyidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

356 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 30 sites for Burramyidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

24 references

Each of the 42 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 12 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Burramyidae

Credit
John Gould
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Burramyidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPhalangeriformes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Broom 1898