marsupials; the current arrangement in the order Dasyuromorphia places its monotypic family with the diverse and carnivorous species of Dasyuridae. Genetic studies have shown that the ancestors of the numbat diverged from other marsupials between 32 and 42 million years ago, during the late Eocene.

Two subspecies have been described, but one of these--the rusty coloured Myrmecobius fasciatus