Didelphis
| Large American opossums[1] | |
|---|---|
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| The White-eared opossum, Didelphis albiventris, lives in South America. | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Didelphimorphia |
| Family: | Didelphidae |
| Subfamily: | Didelphinae |
| Tribe: | |
| Genus: | Didelphis Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Type species | |
| Didelphis marsupialis | |
| Species | |
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Didelphis is a genus of New World marsupials. The six species in the genus Didelphis, commonly known as large American opossums, are members of the opossum order, Didelphimorphia.
The genus Didelphis is composed of omnivorous species, which can be recognized by their prehensile tails and their tendency to feign death when cornered. The largest species, the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), is the only marsupial to be found in North America north of Mexico. The Virginia opossum has opposable toes on their two back feet.
Phylogeny[]
Cladogram of living large American opossums, the genus Didelphis:[2][3]
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References[]
- ^ Gardner, A. (2005). Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ Upham, Nathan S.; Esselstyn, Jacob A.; Jetz, Walter (2019). "Inferring the mammal tree: Species-level sets of phylogenies for questions in ecology, evolution and conservation". PLOS Biol. 17 (12): e3000494. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3000494. PMC 6892540. PMID 31800571.
- ^ Amador, Lucila I.; Giannini, Norberto P. (2016). "Phylogeny and evolution of body mass in didelphid marsupials (Marsupialia: Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae)". Organisms Diversity & Evolution. 16 (3): 641–657. doi:10.1007/s13127-015-0259-x. S2CID 17393886.
External links[]
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- Opossums
- Marsupial genera
- Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
- Marsupial stubs