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.

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 in North America north of Mexico. The Virginia opossum has opposable toes on their two back feet.

Phylogeny

Cladogram of living large American opossums, the genus Didelphis:[2][3]

D. virginiana

D. aurita

D. marsupialis

D. albiventris

D. imperfecta

D. pernigra

Species

ImageScientific nameDistribution
Didelphis albiventrisArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay
Didelphis auritaArgentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
Didelphis imperfectaBrazil, Suriname, French Guiana and Venezuela.
Didelphis marsupialisnortheast of Mexico to Bolivia to the central coast of Peru, including Trinidad and Tobago
Didelphis pernigraVenezuela to Bolivia
Didelphis virginianaCentral America and North America from Costa Rica to southern Ontario

References

  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. 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.
  3. 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. S2CID 17393886.


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