Short-tailed opossum

Short-tailed opossums
Gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Didelphimorphia
Family:	Didelphidae
Tribe:	Marmosini
Genus:	Monodelphis Burnett, 1830
Type species
Monodelphis brachyura Burnett, 1830 (= Didelphis brevicaudata Erxleben, 1777)
Species
see text

Monodelphis is a genus of marsupials in the family Didelphidae, commonly referred to as short-tailed opossums. They are found throughout South America. As of January 2019, the most recently described species is M. vossi.

Species

Cladogram of living Monodelphis

Pyrodelphys M. emiliae Microdelphys M. scalops M. theresa M. dimidiata M. sorex M. gardneri M. iheringi M. americana M. umbristriata Mygalodelphys M. kunsi M. reigi M. adusta M. peruviana M. handleyi M. osgoodi Monodelphis M. domestica M. glirina M. sanctaerosae M. arlindoi M. alstoni M. touan M. brevicaudata M. palliolata

• Sepia short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis adusta)
• Northern three-striped opossum (Monodelphis americana)
• Arlindo's short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis arlindoi)
• Northern red-sided opossum (Monodelphis brevicaudata)
• Yellow-sided opossum (Monodelphis dimidiata)
• Gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica)
• Emilia's short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis emiliae)
• Gardner's short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis gardneri)
• Amazonian red-sided opossum (Monodelphis glirina)
• Handley's short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis handleyi)
• Ihering's three-striped opossum (Monodelphis iheringi)
• Pygmy short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis kunsi)
• Osgood's short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis osgoodi)
• Hooded red-sided opossum (Monodelphis palliolata)
• Peruvian short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis peruviana)
• Long-nosed short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis pinocchio)
• Reig's opossum (Monodelphis reigi)
• Ronald's opossum (Monodelphis ronaldi)
• Saci short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis saci)
• Santa Rosa short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis sanctaerosae)
• Long-nosed short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis scalops)
• Touan short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis touan)
• One-striped opossum (Monodelphis unistriata)
• Voss's short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis vossi)

Species limits are based on fur coloration with additional details coming from differences in the skull and teeth.

Behavior

Short-tailed opossums show a rich repertoire of stereotyped behaviors. Postures, locomotion, and grooming behaviours are similar to those of other didelphids. They also can carry nest materials using their short prehensile tails.

Short-tailed opossums show specialized behaviors for dealing with challenging prey. For example, attacks and initial consumption of large insects are initially directed to the insect's head, hairy caterpillars are scratched to get rid of the urticating hairs, and mice are attacked using a throat clamp technique.

Chemosensory communication

Short-tailed opossums have been found to use nuzzling in chemosensory and exploratory behavior for recognizing individuals of the same species. In Monodelphis domestica, nuzzling and snout-rubbing transforms odor from dry components like glandular secretions, feces, and urine, into moist naso-oral secretions that reach the vomeronasal organ to be processed chemically. Typically, this behavior is used to recognize individual familiar or new scents from the same species, with males typically being drawn to more novel scents from the same species.

Reproduction

The genus Monodelphis is marsupial; they are born under-developed and then mature further in the mother's pouch. In Monodelphis, the young first come off the teat in 12 days, whereas this occurs at 48 days in the related genus Didelphis. Most of the events in this process occur about 2–4 weeks later in Didelphis than in Monodelphis. This may be related to the shorter longevity of the species of Monodelphis compared to other marsupials who nurse for a longer period. M. dimidiata is unusual in that it is a semelparous species, something rarely seen in mammals, being found predominantly in smaller didelphids and dasyurids.

Further reading

• Castilheiro, Welvis Felipe Fernandes; Santos Filho, Manoel dos (June 2013). "Diet of Monodelphis glirina (Mammalia: Didelphidae) in forest fragments in southern Amazon". Zoologia (Curitiba). 30 (3): 249–254. doi:10.1590/S1984-46702013000300001.
• González, E. M.; Claramunt, S. (1 January 2000). "Behaviors of captive short-tailed Opossums, Monodelphis dimidiata (Wagner, 1847) (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae)". Mammalia. 64 (3): 271–286. doi:10.1515/mamm.2000.64.3.271. S2CID 84782113.
• Know Your Short-tailed Opossum: Monodelphis
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System
• Gardner, A.L. (2005). "Order Didelphimorphia". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 13–16. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.