Peradectes is an extinct genus of small metatherian mammals known from the latest Cretaceous[1] to Eocene of North and South America and Europe.

[4] It is known to be a metatherian and further a member of the crown clade Marsupialia along with other extinct and extant groups due to distinct marsupial dentition and jaw anatomy.

[5] Once thought to be a member of Didelphidae along with modern opossums,[3][6] it is now classified within a separate family, Peradectidae, due in part to the predilambdodont, rather than true dilambdodont, upper molars.

The jaw of the type specimen P. elegans is slender with a medially inflected angle as in other marsupials like opossums, and it possesses simple premolars and comparatively large canine teeth.

[12] Analyses have also suggested a partially scansorial life mode (climbing but not necessarily living in trees) for at least some Peradectes species, along with frugivorous or insectivorous feeding.