By general appearance, marsupials and rodents look very much alike, but there are differences between the two. Both are mammals, but there is one specific difference between the two that can’t be determined with the naked eye. First, when marsupials’ eggs are fertilized, they have membranes that surround them. The rodents do not have a surrounding of a membrane in their fertilized eggs.
Another minor difference is that marsupials have a small pouch to carry their babies, but only the female marsupials have them. Rodents do not have a pouch. The location of these mammals is also a main difference between the two. Marsupials are mainly found in Australia and the Americans whereas rodents can be found just about anywhere.
The key difference between the teeth of placental mammals and marsupial mammals is that placentals usually have two sets of teeth — one set that grows in young animals and another set of adult teeth that replace full sets of “baby teeth,” whereas marsupials can only replace certain teeth.
Opossums are not rodents. They are an order unto themselves, part of the "infraclass" known as marsupials.
All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to these species is that most of the young are carried in a pouch. Well-known marsupials include kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, possums, opossums, wombats, and Tasmanian devils.
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