Mondolfi's four-eyed opossum (''Philander mondolfii'') is a
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 ...
n
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
opossum found in
Colombia and
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, first described in 2006. It inhabits foothills of the
Cordillera de Mérida
The Cordillera de Mérida is a series of mountain ranges, or massif, in northwestern Venezuela. The Cordillera de Mérida is a northeastern extension of the Andes Mountains and the most important branch of the Venezuelan Andes. The ranges run sou ...
and those on the eastern side of the
Cordillera Oriental at elevations from 50 to 800 m.
Populations in the two ranges may represent distinct subspecies.
It is named after Venezuelan biologist Edgardo Mondolfi.
It has short woolly fur with a pale cream-colored venter as well as large ears pigmented on only the
distal half.
References
Sources
*
Opossums
Mammals of Colombia
Mammals of Venezuela
Mammals described in 2006
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