Short-tailed opossum
| Short-tailed opossums | |
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Gray short-tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Didelphimorphia |
| Family: | Didelphidae |
| Subfamily: | Didelphinae |
| Genus: |
Monodelphis Burnett, 1830 |
| Type species | |
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Monodelphis brachyura Burnett, 1830 |
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| Species | |
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see text |
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see text
Monodelphis is a genus of marsupials in the family Didelphidae, commonly referred to as short-tailed opossums. They are found throughout South America. The most recently described species are Pavan, Rossi & Schneider, 2012, Voss, Pine & Solari, 2012 and Solari et al., 2012, with reinstatement of (Shaw, 1800), and Pavan, 2015.
Speciation is based on fur coloration with additional details coming from differences in the skull and teeth.
M. sorex and M. rubida are considered to be endangered. M. dimidiata is unusual in that it is a semelparous species, something rarely seen in mammals (found predominately in smaller didelphids and dasyurids).
The genus Monodelphis is marsupial; they are born under-developed and then mature further in the mother's pouch. Another genus in the subfamily is the large American opossum Didelphis, which has a generally similar reproductive development, but differs in their weaning periods. In Monodelphis, the young first come off the teat in 12 days, whereas this occurs at 48 days in Didelphis. Most of the events in this process occur about 2-4 weeks later in Didelphis than in Monodelphis. This may be related to the shorter longevity of the species of Monodelphis compared to other marsupials who nurse for a longer period.
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