Evolution What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters

FIGURE 4.12. The evidence from biogeography. The native fauna of Australia consists mainly of pouched
marsupials, which have converged remarkably on their placental counterparts from other continents, even
though the two groups are not closely related. In Australia, there are marsupials that look vaguely like wolves,
cats, flying squirrels, groundhogs, anteaters, moles, and mice—but they are all pouched mammals. (Modified
from Simpson and Beck 1965)