Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 Didelphinae are a subfamily of opossums consisting of 15 genera and 123 species. [2] [3] [4] Specimens have been collected throughout the Americas, but are predominant in South and Central America. [5] Some sources call this subfamily the "American opossums", [2] [6] while others use that term for the whole family of opossums, Didelphidae. [1]
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.
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").
The elegant fat-tailed mouse opossum is the type species of Thylamys, and is placed in the family Didelphidae. It was first described by English naturalist George Robert Waterhouse as Didelphis elegans in 1839. It was given its present binomial name by English zoologist John Edward Gray in 1843. [3] [4]
The nine species in the genus Philander, commonly known as gray and black four-eyed opossums, are members of the order Didelphimorphia. Mature females have a well-developed marsupium . The tail appears to be hairless except for the proximal (closest to the body) 5 or 6 cm, which has a few long hairs.
Thylamys is a genus of opossums in the family Didelphidae. The premaxillae are rounded rather than pointed. The females lack a pouch. The females' nipples are arranged in two symmetrical rows on the abdomen. [2] All species but T. macrurus store fat in their tails., [3] although this is not necessarily true for all species in the genus. [4]
The Chacoan pygmy opossum is the smallest known species of didelphid.It has a head-body length of 68 mm, a tail of 55 mm and a hind foot of 11. It differs from the other "marmosine" genera (Marmosa, Monodelphis, Thylamys, Tlacuatzin, Gracilinanus, Marmosops, Lestodelphys) in having a long third manual digit, no distinctly tricolored pelage, a long fourth pedal digit, and a tail shorter than ...