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Description
The Hemiplacentalians are an animal group that have no close relatives from the Holocene of Our World. Being a sister lineage to true Placentals, from which they diverged approximately 75 mya, the earliest members were two closely related genera from the Maastrichtian of North America: Purgatorius and Protungulatum. In our timeline, these animals produced no descendants and had died out by the Early Paleocene. On Alter Earth however, they continued to diversify and gave rise to a successful line of mostly arboreal omnivores. Beginning as small arboreal generalists similar to Tree Shrews, they quickly diversified into niches held by raccoons, civets and coatis on Our World. During the Paleocene and Eocene, these animals expanded their range into Asia, a region in which they still thrive today. Their generalised dentition and flexible body plans enabled Hemiplacentals to colonise all sorts of environments, from tropical rain forests to deserts. The small basal forms died out at the end of the Eocene in North America and had vanished from Asia by the Late Miocene. However, larger derived forms, such as the Melilestids, continued to spread westwards, entering Europe during the Oligocene. Icticynus was an example of this group, being a semi-arboreal omnivore up to 90cm long and the largest mammal in its fossil locality. About the size of an Asiatic Palm Civet, the males possessed enlarged canines used in territorial displays and in confrontations with other males. It's diet would have consisted of fruit, honey, eggs and small vertebrates. Like all Hemiplacentals, Icticynus females possessed a small and primitive placenta, allowing for the birth of relatively more developed young than Metatherians (albeit still poorly developed to the eyes of true Placentals such as human beings).

Description
The Hemiplacentalians are an animal group that have no close relatives from the Holocene of Our World. Being a sister lineage to true Placentals, from which they diverged approximately 75 mya, the earliest members were two closely related genera from the Maastrichtian of North America: Purgatorius and Protungulatum. In our timeline, these animals produced no descendants and had died out by the Early Paleocene. On Alter Earth however, they continued to diversify and gave rise to a successful line of mostly arboreal omnivores. Beginning as small arboreal generalists similar to Tree Shrews, they quickly diversified into niches held by raccoons, civets and coatis on Our World. During the Paleocene and Eocene, these animals expanded their range into Asia, a region in which they still thrive today. Their generalised dentition and flexible body plans enabled Hemiplacentals to colonise all sorts of environments, from tropical rain forests to deserts. The small basal forms died out at the end of the Eocene in North America and had vanished from Asia by the Late Miocene. However, larger derived forms, such as the Melilestids, continued to spread westwards, entering Europe during the Oligocene. Icticynus was an example of this group, being a semi-arboreal omnivore up to 90cm long and the largest mammal in its fossil locality. About the size of an Asiatic Palm Civet, the males possessed enlarged canines used in territorial displays and in confrontations with other males. It's diet would have consisted of fruit, honey, eggs and small vertebrates. Like all Hemiplacentals, Icticynus females possessed a small and primitive placenta, allowing for the birth of relatively more developed young than Metatherians (albeit still poorly developed to the eyes of true Placentals such as human beings).