The southeastern four-eyed opossum (''Philander frenatus'') 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 126 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North A ...

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), ...

native to

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 ...

. It is found in Atlantic Forest ecoregions, 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 ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Description

It is a large dark gray opossum.

Dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage The fus ...

fur is dark gray, and the fur on the sides is also gray, but lighter than the dorsal fur. The

ventral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

fur is white or cream-colored. The hairs on the throat have gray bases, but are divided in two by a cream-colored vertical stripe going along the midline of the throat. Its fur is short. Its tail is dark brown or black for its entire length.

Taxonomy

It is considered to be a

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of the gray four-eyed opossum by some sources, such as the Mammal Diversity Database, and the species occupying this range is '' Philander quica''.

References

*John F. Eisenberg and Kent H. Redford, 2000
Mammals of the Neotropics: Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil
Opossums Opossum, Southeastern Four-eyed Marsupials of Argentina Marsupials of Brazil Mammals of Paraguay Mammals described in 1818 Taxa named by Ignaz von Olfers {{marsupial-stub