Thylamys

Thylamys[1]
Elegant Fat-tailed Mouse Opossum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Didelphimorphia
Family: Didelphidae
Genus: Thylamys
Gray, 1843
Type species
Didelphis elegans
Waterhouse, 1839
Species

See text

Thylamys is a genus of opossum 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 genus contains the following species:

Fossils belonging to the genus date back to the Miocene, with the oldest specimens being found in Argentina and Colombia.[8] Genetic studies indicate that the genus may have originated around 14 million years ago.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Gardner, A. L. (2005). "Order Didelphimorphia". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ↑ Eisenberg, John Frederick; Redford, Kent Hubbard (1999). Mammals of the Neotropics: The Central Neotropics: Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil. University of Chicago Press. p. 624. ISBN 978-0-226-19542-1.
  3. ↑ Gardner, Alfred L. (2008). Mammals of South America: Marsupials, xenarthrans, shrews, and bats. University of Chicago Press. p. 669. ISBN 0-226-28240-6.
  4. ↑ Voss, R.S. & Jansa, S.A. (2003). "Nonmolecular data and new IRBP sequences: separate and combined analyses of didelphine relationships with denser taxon sampling". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 276: 1–82. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2003)276<0001:PSODMI>2.0.CO;2.
  5. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/199835/0
  6. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/199836/0
  7. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/199834/0
  8. ↑ Braun, J.K. et al. (2005). "Phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of mouse opossums Thylamys (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae) in southern South America". Journal of Mammalogy 86 (1): 147–159. doi:10.1644/1545-1542(2005)086<0147:PABROM>2.0.CO;2.
  9. ↑ Steiner, C. et al. (2005). "New DNA data from transthyretin nuclear intron suggest an Oligocene to Miocene diversification of living South American opossums (Marsupialia: Didelphidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35: 363–379. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.12.013.