When you think of carnivorous marsupials, you probably picture the Tasmanian devil or perhaps a spotted-tailed quoll. But these famous predators are only the largest members of a remarkable family of marsupials called dasyurids.

Today the dasyurid family contains almost 80 living species. Some live in trees, others in deserts. Some eat insects and weigh only a few grams, while others can weigh up to 14 kilograms and feast on wombats and wallabies. Together they occupy habitats stretching from New Guinea’s tropical rainforests to Australia’s deserts and alpine woodlands.

Despite this extraordinary diversity, one of the biggest questions about their evolution has remained unanswered. Where did they come from?

Our new research, published today in Australian Zoologist, describes what is now the earliest known member of the dasyurid family – a mouse-sized predator we have named Miyumba chrisdickmani. It pushes the fossil record of dasyurids back by more than five million years and provides the first clear picture of what the earliest members of this iconic Australian group looked like.

A long-running puzzle

For decades, scientists have puzzled over the origins of dasyurids.

Early researchers assumed they must be an ancient group because their molar teeth exhibit a remarkably primitive design, little changed from the earliest Australian marsupial ancestors.

But DNA studies later suggested something very different. Modern dasyurids are actually a comparatively young branch of the........

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