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The Virginia opossum is the original animal named "opossum", a word which comes from Algonquian wapathemwa, meaning "white animal". Colloquially, the Virginia opossum is frequently just called a "possum". [8] The term is applied more generally to any of the other marsupials of the families Didelphidae and Caenolestidae.
The order Didelphimorphia consists of one family, Didelphidae, which is divided into the subfamilies Caluromyinae, Glironiinae, Hyladelphinae, and Didelphinae.Caluromyinae contains 4 species in 2 genera, Glironiinae and Hyladelphinae each contain a single species, and Didelphinae contains 87 species in 14 genera, as well as the extinct red-bellied gracile opossum, which was last seen in 1962.
The largest species, the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), is the only marsupial to be found in North America, north of Mexico. The Virginia opossum has opposable toes on their two back feet. One of the synapomorphies of this genus is the hypertrophied spinous processes of the cervical vertebrae, which also interlock. As a result, this ...
The Virginia opossum is the only species found in the United States and Canada. It is often simply referred to as an opossum, and in North America it is commonly referred to as a possum [3] (/ ˈ p ɒ s əm /; sometimes rendered as ' possum in written form to indicate the dropped "o").
Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in Ohio. Scientific classification ... The Didelphinae are a subfamily of opossums consisting of 15 genera and 123 species. [2 ...
Opossums probably diverged from the basic South American marsupials in the late Cretaceous or early Paleocene. The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial/opossum species in New York. Virginia opossum. Family Didelphidae (American opossums) Subfamily: Didelphinae. Genus: Didelphis. Virginia opossum, D. virginiana LC
This is a list of mammals in Virginia, including both current and recently historical inhabitants. Virginia has 77 species of native land mammals (including extirpated species), and the coast is visited by nearly 30 marine mammal species. 11 species or subspecies of native Virginian mammals are listed as endangered or threatened by the state ...
The remaining 30% are distributed across the Americas, primarily in South America, with thirteen species in Central America and a single species, the Virginia opossum, inhabiting North America north of Mexico. Marsupials range in size from a few grams in the long-tailed planigale, [1] to several tonnes in the extinct Diprotodon. [2]