Didelphodon vorax
Taxon
Didelphodon vorax Marsh, 1889
Reconstructed length
50 cm (20 inches)
View
Left lateral
Drawing
© Scott Hartman
Drawn
2017, revised 2026
Clade
- Synapsida
- Therapsida
- Mammalia
- Metatheria
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Didelphodon was a metatherian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of North America, and a close relative of marsupials. Didelphodon had a robust skull that combined predatory canines with bulbous crushing molars. It probably ate insects and small vertebrates in its environment, potentially including diving for shellfish or other invertebrates that could be crushed with its molars. While only the size of an opossum, it was still one of the larger mammals alive at the time.