The bushy-tailed opossum (''Glironia venusta'') is an opossum from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. It was first described by English zoologist Oldfield Thomas in 1912. It is a medium-sized opossum characterized by a large, oval, dark ears, fawn to cinnamon coat with a buff to gray underside, grayish limbs, and a furry tail. Little is known of the behavior of the bushy-tailed opossum; less than 25 specimens are known. It appears to be

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose nu ...

(tree-living), nocturnal (active mainly at night) and solitary. The diet probably comprises insects, eggs and plant material. This opossum has been captured from heavy, humid,

tropical forest Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical fore ...

s; it has been reported from Bolivia,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Colombia,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. The IUCN classifies it as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Taxonomy and etymology

The bushy-tailed opossum is the sole member of ''Glironia'', and is placed in the family Didelphidae. It was first described by English zoologist Oldfield Thomas in 1912. Earlier, ''Glironia'' was considered part of the subfamily Didelphinae. A 1955 revision of marsupial phylogeny grouped '' Caluromys'', ''

Caluromysiops The black-shouldered opossum (''Caluromysiops irrupta''), also known as the white-eared opossum, is an opossum known from western Brazil and southeastern Peru. It was first described by Colin Campbell Sanborn, curator of Field Museum of Natural ...

'', ''

Dromiciops The monito del monte or colocolo opossum, ''Dromiciops gliroides'', also called ''chumaihuén'' in Mapudungun, is a diminutive marsupial native only to southwestern South America (Argentina and Chile). It is the only extant species in the ancient ...

'' (monito del monte) and ''Glironia'' under a single subfamily, Microbiotheriinae, noting the dental similarities among these. A 1977 study argued that these similarities are the result of

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

, and placed ''Caluromys'', ''Caluromysiops'' and ''Glironia'' in a new subfamily,

Caluromyinae Caluromyinae is a subfamily of opossums. It includes the extant genera '' Caluromys'' and '' Caluromysiops'', as well as the extinct '' Pachybiotherium''. Until recently, the genus ''Glironia'' was also included. It has sometimes been classed as ...

. In another similar revision, the bushy-tailed opossum was placed in its own subfamily, Glironiinae. The

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

below, based on a 2016 study, shows the

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

relationships of the bushy-tailed opossum. The generic name is a

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''glir'' ("dormouse") and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

suffix -''ia'' (pertains to "quality" or "condition"). The specific name, ''venusta'', means "charming" in Latin.

Description

The bushy-tailed opossum is a medium-sized opossum characterized by a large, oval, dark ears, fawn to cinnamon coat with a buff to gray underside, grayish limbs, and, as its name suggests, a furry tail. The face is marked by two bold, dark stripes extending from either side of the nose through the eyes to the back of the ears. These stripes are separated by a thinner grayish white band, that runs from the midline of the nose to the nape of the neck. The texture of hairs ranges from soft to woolly; the hairs on the back measure . Five nipples can be seen on the abdomen; it lacks a marsupium. The tail, long, becomes darker and less bushy towards the tip. Basically the same in color as the coat, the tip may be completely white or have diffuse white hairs. The head-and-body length is typically between , the hindfeet measure and the ears are long. It weighs nearly . The

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiolog ...

is – typical of all didelphids. Canines and molars are poorly developed. Differences from ''

Marmosa The 27 species in the genus ''Marmosa'' are relatively small Neotropical members of the family Didelphidae. This genus is one of three that are known as mouse opossums. The others are '' Thylamys'' (the "fat-tailed mouse opossums") and '' Tlacua ...

'' species (mouse opossums) include smaller ears, longer and narrower rostrum, and greater erectness in canines. The monito del monte has a similar bushy tail. A study of the male reproductive system noted that the bushy-tailed opossum has two pairs of bulbourethral glands, as in ''Caluromys'' and ''

Gracilinanus ''Gracilinanus'' is a genus of opossum in the family Didelphidae. It was separated from the genus ''Marmosa The 27 species in the genus ''Marmosa'' are relatively small Neotropical members of the family Didelphidae. This genus is one of t ...

'', but unlike other didelphids that have three pairs. The urethral grooves of the glans penis end near the tips.

Ecology and behavior

Little is known of the behavior of the bushy-tailed opossum. Less than 25 specimens are known. A study noted the morphological features of the opossum that could allow for powerful movements during locomotion, and deduced that it is

(tree-living). It appears to be solitary and nocturnal (active mainly at night). An individual was observed running through and leaping over vines, in a manner typical of opossums, probably hunting for insects. Its diet may be similar to that of the mouse opossums – insects, eggs and plant material.

Distribution and status

The bushy-tailed opossum has been captured from heavy, humid,

s, and has not been recorded outside forests. It occurs up to an altitude of above the sea level. The range has not been precisely determined; specimens have been collected from regions of Bolivia,

, Colombia,

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. The IUCN classifies the bushy-tailed opossum as

, given its wide distribution and presumably large population. The major threats to its survival are deforestation and human settlement.

References

External links