''Monodelphis pinocchio'', also known as the long-nosed short-tailed opossum (not to be mistaken with '' Monodelphis scalops'') is a species of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

in the family Didelphidae. It is native to southeastern Brazil.

Taxonomy

The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

refers to the fictional doll Pinocchio from '' The Adventures of Pinocchio'', alluding to the enlarged rostrum of this opossum, which resembles Pinocchios's elongated nose.

Description

It is a small species of opossum. It is uniformly brown all over its body, with a pale gray belly.

Distribution and habitat

It is found in the

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

of southeastern Brazil, in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Esperito Santo. It is restricted to montane habitats.

References

Mammals described in 2015 {{Marsupial-stub