Peramelemorphia

Peramelemorphia is an order of marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, comprising the bandicoots and bilbies. The order includes two living families: Peramelidae (bandicoots) and Thylacomyidae (bilbies). The extinct family Chaeropodidae (pig-footed bandicoots) is sometimes included within Peramelemorphia. Members are generally small to medium-sized, with slender bodies, long snouts, and adapted digging forelimbs. They are primarily ground-dwelling and most species are nocturnal.

They inhabit a range of environments from forests and heath to grasslands and arid regions. Diet is omnivorous, including insects, seeds, roots, fruits, and fungi. Bilbies are particularly fossorial and use their long hind limbs to move swiftly and dig, while bandicoots often forage by probing soil with their snouts.

Reproduction follows typical marsupial patterns: short gestations followed by development of the young in the pouch; litter sizes are small and females may reproduce multiple times a year depending on species and conditions.

Peramelemorphia is part of Australidelphia, reflecting its evolutionary relationship to other Australian marsupials. The fossil record includes extinct genera such as Chaeropus, the pig-footed bandicoot, known from the late Miocene to recent times.

Conservation status varies; several extant species are threatened by habitat loss, introduced predators, and fire regimes, while the pig-footed bandicoot is extinct.