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Marsupials differ from most other mammals in their method of reproduction, in that they have chosen, in an evolutionary sense, to develop lactation rather than placentation for the nurture of their young. The neonate is therefore born with a mixture of advanced and embryonic characters, and yet is readily accessible within the pouch, providing a unique system for the study of the ontogeny of various physiological and endocrinological parameters. Marsupials are therefore ideal animals for research into mammalian reproductive physiology. The results of this exciting new research are summarized in this book by two of the foremost workers in the field. Individual chapters analyse the genetic and hormonal control of sexual differentiation, male and female reproductive structures and their functions, the role of the corpus luteum in the oestrous cycle and pregnancy, the hormonal control of embryonic diapause and the role of the marsupial placenta in the development of the embryo. This book is more than just a straightforward review of marsupial reproduction for its detailed analyses and broad comparative coverage will attract mammalogists and reproductive physiologists with a wide range of research interests.
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Reproductive physiology of marsupials
MONOGRAPHS
ON MARSUPIAL
BIOLOGY
Reproductive physiology of marsupials
HUGH TYNDALE-BISCOE Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Rangelands Research, Canberra, Australia
MARILYN RENFREE NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Department of Anatomy Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge London New York Melbourne Sydney
New Rochelle
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www. Cambridge. org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521252850 © Cambridge University Press 1987 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1987 A catalogue recordfor this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Tyndale-Biscoe, C. H. Reproductive Physiology of Marsupials. (Monographs on marsupial biology) Bibliography. Includes index. I. Marsupialia — Reproduction. I. Renfree, M. B. II. Title. III. Series. QL737.M3T97 1986 599.2'016 86-2251 ISBN-13 978-0-521-25285-0 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-25285-7 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-33792-2 paperback ISBN-10 0-521-33792-5 paperback Transferred to digital printing 2005
To three pioneers who recognised the special role of marsupials for the understanding of mammalian reproduction J. P. Hill
C. G. Hartman
G. B. Sharman
Contents
Preface 1 Historical introduction 2 Breeding biology of marsupials by family Didelphidae Oestrous cycle and pregnancy Parturition and lactation Breeding season and annual productivity Other didelphids Microbiotheriidae Caenolestidae Dasyuridae Oestrous cycle and pregnancy Parturition and lactation Breeding seasons Thylacinidae Myrmecobiidae Perameloidea Oestrous cycle and pregnancy Parturition and lactation Breeding season and annual productivity Thylacomyidae Herbivorous marsupials - Diprotodonta Phalangeridae and Petauridae Trichosurus vulpecula Other species of Phalangeridae Petauridae Burramyidae and Tarsip