The bushy-tailed opossum (''Glironia venusta'') is an
opossum
Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered No ...
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 sou ...
. It was first
described by English zoologist
Oldfield Thomas
Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist.
Career
Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appo ...
in 1912. It is a medium-sized
opossum
Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered No ...
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
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...
(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
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
,
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
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...
,
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
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
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. ...
.
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
Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist.
Career
Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appo ...
in 1912. Earlier, ''Glironia'' was considered part of the subfamily
Didelphinae
The Didelphinae are a subfamily of opossums consisting of 15 genera and 123 species. Specimens have been collected throughout the Americas, but are predominant in South and Central America.
Some sources call this subfamily the "American opossu ...
. A 1955 revision of marsupial phylogeny grouped ''
Caluromys'', ''
Caluromysiops'', ''
Dromiciops'' (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.
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 ...
relationships of the bushy-tailed opossum.
The
generic name is a
compound of the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...
''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
Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered No ...
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. Canine
Canine may refer to:
Zoology and anatomy
* a dog-like Canid animal in the subfamily Caninae
** ''Canis'', a genus including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals
** Dog, the domestic dog
* Canine tooth, in mammalian oral anatomy
People with the surn ...
s and molars are poorly developed. Differences from '' Marmosa'' 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 ]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). It appears to be solitary and nocturnal
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...
(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, 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, 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
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, 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
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...
, 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
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
classifies the bushy-tailed opossum 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. ...
, given its wide distribution and presumably large population. The major threats to its survival are deforestation and human settlement.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q1017422, from2=Q18510784
Opossums
Marsupials of South America
Mammals of Bolivia
Mammals of Brazil
Mammals of Colombia
Mammals of Ecuador
Mammals of Peru
Mammals described in 1912
EDGE species
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas