Buff-bellied fat-tailed mouse opossum

The buff-bellied fat-tailed mouse opossum (Thylamys venustus) is a species of opossum in the family Didelphidae.[3] It is found in the transitional and humid forests of northern Argentina and southern Bolivia.[1] Its dorsal fur is cinnamon brown. Most of its ventral fur is gray-based, but its chest, throat, and the thoracic midline (the midline of the thorax, which ranges from the throat to the top of the abdomen) are not gray-based. The postorbital ridges are absent in the young and weakly developed in adults.[4]

Buff-bellied fat-tailed mouse opossum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Didelphimorphia
Family: Didelphidae
Genus: Thylamys
Species:
T. venustus
Binomial name
Thylamys venustus
(Thomas, 1902)
Buff-bellied fat-tailed mouse opossum range
Synonyms

Marmosa elegans venusta (Thomas, 1902)
Marmosa elegans cinderella (Thomas, 1902)
Marmosa elegans sponsoria (Thomas, 1921)
Marmosa janetta (Thomas, 1926)[2]

Initially classed as a Marmosa elegans subspecies,[5] it was subsequently raised to species status in 1933.[6] There are four synonyms: Marmosa elegans venusta (Thomas, 1902, Cochabamba), Marmosa elegans cinderella (Thomas, 1902, Tucumán Province), Marmosa elegans sponsoria (Thomas, 1921, Jujuy Province) and Marmosa janetta (Thomas, 1926, Tarija Department) with cinderella and sponsoria actually being one taxon and a subspecies of venustus; janetta is the largest of all and has cream-white ventral fur with plumbeous bases.[7]

Its conservation status is not exactly known; it occurs in an area currently being developed, and while its range overlaps several protected areas, it is uncertain if it occurs in any of them.

References edit

  1. ^ a b Flores, D. (2016). "Thylamys venustus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T136626A22172283. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T136626A22172283.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ Thomas, Oldfield (1926). "XLV.—The Spedan Lewis South American Exploration.—II. On mammals collected in the Tarija Department, Southern Bolivia". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Series 9. 17 (9): 327. doi:10.1080/00222932608633418. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  3. ^ Gardner, A.L. (2005). "Order Didelphimorphia". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  4. ^ Creighton, G. Ken; Gardner, Alfred L. (2007). "Genus Thylamus Gray 1843". In Gardner, Alfred L. (ed.). Mammals of South America: Marsupials, xenarthrans, shrews, and bats. University of Chicago Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-226-28240-4.
  5. ^ Thomas, Oldfield (1902). "XXII.—On Marmosa marmota and elegans with descriptions of new subspecies of the latter". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Series 7. 9 (50): 408–410. doi:10.1080/00222930208678556. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  6. ^ Tate, G.H.H. (1933). "A systematic revision of the marsupial genus Marmosa with a discussion of the adaptive radiation of the murine opossums (Marmosa)". Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 66: 1–250. hdl:2246/1036. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  7. ^ Solari, Sergio (2003). "Diversity and distribution of Thylamys (Didelphidae) in South America with emphasis on species from the western side of the Andes". In Jones, Menna; Dickman, Chris R.; Archer, Mike (eds.). Predators with Pouches: The Biology of Carnivorous Marsupials. Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing. p. 96. ISBN 0-643-06634-9. Retrieved 2022-12-01.

Further reading edit

  • The collected works of Oldfield Thomas [1]