Brown-eared Woolly Opossum

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iBrown-eared Woolly Opossum
Conservation status
Near Threatened (LR/nt)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Infraclass: Marsupialia Order: Didelphimorphia Family: Caluromyidae Genus: Caluromys Subgenus: Mallodelphys Species: C. lanatus
Binomial name
Caluromys lanatus (Olfers, 1818)
Subspecies
Caluromys lanatus cicur Caluromys lanatus lanatus Caluromys lanatus nattereri Caluromys lanatus ochropus Caluromys lanatus orntus Caluromys lanatus vitalinus

The Brown-eared Woolly Opossum (Caluromys lanatus), also known as the Ecuadoran or Western Woolly Opossum, is a woolly opossum species from South America. It's a species restricted only to moist forests.

Just like any other member of the Caluromys genus, the Brown-eared Woolly Opossum is a strongly arboreal species of marsupial, differing from other Didelphidae opossums for having a comparatively large encephalization quotient and smaller litter size. The tail is long and heavy in more than half of its extension.

It feeds on fruits, nectar, invertebrates and small vertebrates.

[edit] References

• New World Marsupial Specialist Group (1996). Caluromys lanatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
• John F. Eisenberg and Kent H. Redford, 2000. Mammals of Neotropics: Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil.
• Gardner, Alfred (November 16, 2005). Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 3. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.