McIlhenny's four-eyed opossum (''Philander mcilhennyi'') is a South American
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
opossum
Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 126 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North A ...
.
Found in
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
and
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, it is almost entirely black, except for white spots above each eye.
This species is named for John Stauffer "Jack" McIlhenny (1909-1997), a grandson of the founder of the
McIlhenny Company, maker of
Tabasco sauce. He funded the 1968
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...
expedition that discovered the species.
References
External links
*John F. Eisenberg and Kent H. Redford, 2000. Mammals of Neotropics: Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil.
*Maggie Heyn Richardson, "Rara avis", ''Imagine Louisiana'' magazine, Spring 2007, pp. 46–48.
Opossums
Marsupials of Brazil
Marsupials of Peru
Mammals described in 1972
Taxa named by James L. Patton
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