‘Yet the teeth of deltatheroidans are of remarkably primitive construction; if they are related to marsupials, an extremely early divergence of Metatheria and Eutheria is implied.’
‘These evolutionary ties between the South American Microbiotheriidae and the Australian marsupials help to illuminate the biogeographic history of the Metatheria.’
‘The data presented here encompassed 5 Metatheria (order Didelphimorphia) and 62 Eutheria: 15 Xenarthra, 24 Euarchontoglires, as well as 23 Laurasiatheria (22 Chiroptera and 1 species from Perissodactyla).’
‘In all cases, a representative of the mammalian infraclass Metatheria was designated as an outgroup.’
Origin
Modern Latin (plural), from meta- (expressing change) + Greek thēria, plural of thērion ‘wild animal’.
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