The Junin slender opossum (''Marmosops juninensis'') is a species of
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
n
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 ...
in the family
Didelphidae.
It is known only from the valley of the
Chanchamayu in
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 ...
(a range that includes
Junín Region Junín may refer to:
Places Argentina
* Junín Partido
** Junín, Buenos Aires
*** Junín Airport
* Junín Department, Mendoza
** Junín, Mendoza
* Junín Department, San Luis
* Junín de los Andes, Neuquén
Colombia
* Junín, Cundinamarca
* ...
) where it lives in
Andean
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...
montane forest
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...
s at elevations between 1460 and 2200 m.
The species is threatened by destruction of its forest habitat as the area under cultivation in the region increases.
References
Opossums
Mammals of the Andes
Marsupials of Peru
Endemic fauna of Peru
Mammals described in 1931
Taxa named by George Henry Hamilton Tate
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