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Didelphis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Large American opossums[1]
The white-eared opossum, Didelphis albiventris, lives in South America.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Didelphimorphia
Family: Didelphidae
Subfamily: Didelphinae
Tribe: Didelphini
Genus: Didelphis
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Didelphis marsupialis
Species

Didelphis is a genus of New World marsupials. The six species in the genus Didelphis, commonly known as Large American opossums, are members of the opossum order, Didelphimorphia.[2]

The genus Didelphis is composed of cat-sized omnivorous species, which can be recognized by their prehensile tails and their tendency to feign death when cornered. The largest species, the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), is the only marsupial to be found 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 prevents and movement of the neck. The purpose of this is not yet fully understood.[3]

Phylogeny

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Phylogeny of a 5,911 species 31 gene supertree[4][5] Phylogeny of a 4,705 species 182 gene supertree[6][7]
Didelphis

D. virginiana Kerr 1792 (Virginia opossum)

D. aurita Wied-Neuwied 1826 non (Pelzeln 1883) Allen 1897a (Big-eared opossum)

D. marsupialis Linneus 1758 (common opossum)

D. pernigra Allen 1900 (Andean white-eared opossum)

D. albiventris Lund 1839 ex Lund 1840 non Solari et al. 1999 (White-eared opossum)

D. imperfecta (Mondolfi & Pérez-Hernàndez 1984) Voss
& Emmons 1996 (Guianan white-eared opossum)

Didelphis

Species

[edit]
Skeleton of Didelphis sp., 3D model
Image Scientific name Distribution
Didelphis albiventris Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay
Didelphis aurita Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
Didelphis imperfecta Brazil, Suriname, French Guiana and Venezuela.
Didelphis marsupialis northeast of Mexico to Bolivia to the central coast of Peru, including Trinidad and Tobago
Didelphis pernigra Venezuela to Bolivia
Didelphis virginiana Central America and North America from Costa Rica to southern Ontario

References

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  1. ^ Gardner, A. (2005). Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ^ Amador, Lucila I.; Giannini, Norberto P. (2016). "Phylogeny and evolution of body mass in didelphid marsupials (Marsupialia: Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae)". Organisms Diversity & Evolution. 16 (3): 641–657. doi:10.1007/s13127-015-0259-x. hdl:11336/50679. S2CID 17393886.
  3. ^ Giannini, Norberto P.; Gaudioso, Pablo; Flores, David A.; Gaudin, Timothy J. (2011-07-01). "A possible function for an enigmatic synapomorphy of Didelphis". Mammalian Biology. 76 (4): 512–514. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2010.06.001. ISSN 1616-5047.
  4. ^ Upham, Nathan S.; Esselstyn, Jacob A.; Jetz, Walter (2019). "Inferring the mammal tree: Species-level sets of phylogenies for questions in ecology, evolution and conservation". PLOS Biol. 17 (12): e3000494. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3000494. PMC 6892540. PMID 31800571.
  5. ^ Upham, Nathan S.; Esselstyn, Jacob A.; Jetz, Walter (2019). "DR_on4phylosCompared_linear_richCol_justScale_ownColors_withTips_80in" (PDF). PLOS Biology. 17 (12): e3000494. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3000494. PMC 6892540. PMID 31800571.
  6. ^ Álvarez-Carretero, Sandra; Tamuri, Asif U.; Battini, Matteo; Nascimento, Fabrícia F.; Carlisle, Emily; Asher, Robert J.; Yang, Ziheng; Donoghue, Philip C.J.; dos Reis, Mario (2022). "A species-level timeline of mammal evolution integrating phylogenomic data". Nature. 602 (7896): 263–267. Bibcode:2022Natur.602..263A. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04341-1. hdl:1983/de841853-d57b-40d9-876f-9bfcf7253f12. PMID 34937052.
  7. ^ Álvarez-Carretero, Sandra; Tamuri, Asif U.; Battini, Matteo; Nascimento, Fabrícia F.; Carlisle, Emily; Asher, Robert J.; Yang, Ziheng; Donoghue, Philip C.J.; dos Reis, Mario (2022). "4705sp_colours_mammal-time.tree". Nature. 602 (7896): 263–267. Bibcode:2022Natur.602..263A. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04341-1. hdl:1983/de841853-d57b-40d9-876f-9bfcf7253f12. PMID 34937052.
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