Osinkot

Osinkot is an extinct genus of opossums that lived in North America during the Cenozoic Era. The name "Osinkot" comes from a type of Native American pottery, as the genus was first described in the 1930s from fossil remains found in association with similar prehistoric ceramics.

Osinkot fossils have been recovered from Late Oligocene to Early Miocene sites in the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada. The genus contains a single species, Osinkot capitoscit, which was a relatively small opossum that weighed around 1-2 kilograms.

The osinkot was a tree-dwelling opossum with adaptations for arboreal life, such as a long, prehensile tail and strong limbs. Its skull was similar to that of modern opossums, with a distinctive dental structure that suggests a varied diet of fruits, insects, and small vertebrates. Compared to other fossil opossums from the region, Osinkot was smaller and more slender, with a more primitive dental structure.

The osinkot's fossil record is limited, but it appears to have coexisted with other well-known opossums from the region, such as the didelphoid opossums Anzaldo and Tommyrion. The genus played an important role in North American mammalian evolution, as it indicates the presence of arboreal opossums in the region during a time of significant faunal turnover. Despite its limited fossil representation, osinkot provides valuable insights into the diversity of opossums during the Cenozoic Era.