Bushy-tailed opossum
| Bushy-tailed opossum | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Didelphimorphia |
| Family: | Didelphidae |
| Subfamily: | Glironiinae Voss & Jansa (2009) |
| Genus: | Glironia Thomas, 1912 |
| Species: | G. venusta |
| Binomial name | |
| Glironia venusta Thomas, 1912 | |
 | |
| Bushy-tailed opossum range | |
The bushy-tailed opossum (Glironia venusta) is an opossum species from South America.[2] It is the only species in the genus Glironia and the subfamily Glironiinae of the family Didelphidae.[2] It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.[3]
Description
The bushy-tailed opossum is brown to grey colored with black stripes from nose through the eye to the head. A broad, prominent, dark brown to black stripe extends through each eye and gives the appearance of a mask. Its ears are oval, large, naked and black in color. Hand and feet are dull brown to gray colored.[3] It has a tail that is bushy with thick fur.[3] It weighs 195–225 grams (6.9–7.9 oz).[4] Its head to body length is 160–205 millimetres (6.3–8.1 in).[3]
Range and habitat
The range of the bushy-tailed opossum is not well known. The bushy-tailed opossum is collected from the Amazonian region of Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. They have entered South America and Europe from North American near about 10-20 million years ago. After that they have been distinct in both of these regions.[5] It is an arboreal, nocturnal and solitary animal that lives in lowland rain forest and tropical dry forest at altitudes up to 500 m.[1]
Threat
The most common threat which has been noticed is destruction of forests.[1] As the bushy-tailed opossum lives in forest and removal of forest will cause the death of it.[6] Most of the forest have been burned or converted into an agriculture in these region which is the main cause of its distinction.
Diet
The diet probably consists of insects, fruits, seeds, and eggs.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Patterson, B. & Solari, S. (2008). "Glironia venusta". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
- 1 2 Gardner, A.L. (2005). "Order Didelphimorphia". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- 1 2 3 4 Larry, Marshall. "Glironia Venusta". Mammalian Species (Dec 29,1978): 1–3. doi:10.2307/3504067. JSTOR 3504067.
- ↑ "Bushy-tailed opossum (Glironia Venusta)". www.arkive.org. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
- ↑ Calzada, Javier; Delibes, Miguel; Keller, Claudia; Palomares, Francisco; Magnusson, William. "First Record of bushy-tailed opossum". http://www.scielo.br/. Retrieved April 4, 2015. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ Filho, Silva; et al. "New Records of Glironia". Scielo (2007): 103–105.