Fig. 6.23.

A shrew-opossum (Family Caenolestidae) – another group of ‘living fossils’ whose relationships with other marsupials date back 80 million years or more, when many of Earth’s southern continents were still connected. Shrew-opossums were originally thought to be closely related to the Australian diprotodontids (literally ‘two teeth’) because of their prominent protruding lower incisors that can be seen in this illustration. This plate is part of the seminal work, Mammalian Genera: Monotremes and Marsupials prepared by Spaniard Angel Cabrera in 1919 (plate X). Cabrera was the authority on mammalian studies in Spain during the early 20th century. He learned his craft from the best, spending a month at the British Museum in 1910 under the tutelage of none other than Oldfield Thomas. Source: Wikimedia Commons.