Chiloe opossum
| Chiloe opossum | ||||||||||||
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Chiloe opossum ( Dromiciops gliroides ) |
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| Dromiciops gliroides | ||||||||||||
| Thomas , 1894 |
The Chiloe opossum ( Dromiciops gliroides ) is a species of marsupial from southwestern South America . Together with two recently described species, it forms the only living genus of the Microbiotheriidae family , which in turn is the only family of the marsupial order Microbiotheria.
distribution
The Chiloé opossum lives in Chile from the 40th to the 43rd parallel, in neighboring Argentina and on the island of Chiloé, which belongs to Chile .
description
Chiloé opossum rats are rat-like animals with thick, short fur. The light brown-gray fur on the back stands out strongly from the lighter side fur, which is interspersed with large white spots in front of and behind the shoulders and on the hips. The belly is light gray to yellowish-white in color. In the light gray face there are distinct black circles under the eyes, the neck is reddish-brown in color. The body of the Chiloé opossum is 8.5 to 12 centimeters long, the tail reaches approximately the same length with 9 to 13 centimeters. Their weight is between 16 and 42 grams. Except for a hairless area on the underside of the tip of the tail, the tail is densely hairy and easy to grip. Chiloé opossums differ from the dwarf pouch rats and Chilean opossum mice living in their area of distribution by their marbled fur, as well as by significantly smaller, only sparsely hairy ears compared to the dwarf pouch rats and a longer tail compared to the Chilean opossum mice. The female has a small but recognizable pouch with 4 teats.
Way of life
Chiloe opossums inhabit cool forests. They are crepuscular and nocturnal and live mainly on trees. They build round nests out of bamboo leaves , which they pad with grass and moss. As the species name gliroides suggests, the animals hibernate in cooler regions . For this purpose, a fat store is created beforehand in the front part of the tail. At least during the mating season, Chiloé opossums live together in pairs.
food
The diet of the Chiloé opossum consists mainly of insects and their larvae, occasionally also of plant material.
Reproduction
The mating of the Chiloé opossums takes place in the South American spring. Once a year the female gives birth to one to four young animals. After the time in the bag, the young cling to the mother's back during the nocturnal foraging for food and stay in their nest during the day. After weaning, the young animals remain in loose contact with their parents for a long time. They become sexually mature in the second year of life.
threat
According to a superstition of the Chilean population, it is bad luck to see one of these animals or to have them in the house. That is why it is said to have happened that people burned down their houses after they found a Chiloé opossum in them. According to the IUCN , these animals are considered to be “near threatened”.
Systematics
The family gets its scientific name from the fossil genus Microbiotherium , which was closely related to the Chiloé opossum and lived in South America during the Oligocene and Miocene . Amazingly, the family belongs to the Australidelphia parentage , which means that although the animals live in South America, they are more closely related to the marsupials of Australia than to the opossums of the American continent. The species is morphologically so variable that in April 2016 two further species of the genus Dromiciops were described and separated from Dromiciops gliroides . For the Dromiciops -Population between the 41st and 43rd latitude the scientific name was Dromiciops bozinovici introduced for a small Dromiciops -Population at San Martín in northwestern de Región Los Ríos the scientific name Dromiciops Mondaca .
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0801857899 .
- Kent H. Redford, John F. Eisenberg: The Southern Cone. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1992, ISBN 0226706826 ( Mammals of the Neotropics. Volume 2).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Guillermo D'Elía, Natalí Hurtado, Alejandro D'Anatro. Alpha taxonomy of Dromiciops (Microbiotheriidae) with the description of 2 new species of monito del monte. Journal of Mammalogy. April 2016. DOI: 10.1093 / jmammal / gyw068
Web links
- Dromiciops gliroides in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008 Posted by: M. Diaz, P. Teta, 2008. Accessed January 2 of 2009.
- Photo of the chiloe opossum
