Dromiciops bozinovici
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| D'Elía , Hurtado , D'Anatro , 2016 |
Dromiciops bozinovici ( Spanish Panchos’s monito del monte ) is a small, mouse-like South American marsupial species that occurs in a small area in the south of the Chilean lake region (such as the Región de la Araucanía and Región del Bío-Bío ) and in neighboring Argentina. The species was newly described in April 2016and separated from the Chiloé opossum ( Dromiciops gliroides ) due to morphological and molecular biological differences. The cytochrome b genes of the mitochondrial DNA of Dromiciops bozinovici and the Chiloé opossum differ by 11.3%. Dromiciops bozinovici includes the northern Dromiciops populationsformerly attributed to the Chiloéopossum. The species epithet bozinovici honors Francisco “Pancho” Bozinovic, who has written numerous works on the Chilean small mammal fauna.
features
The holotype of Dromiciops bozinovici has a total length of 17 cm, of which 8.6 cm is the tail. The rear foot is 17 mm long, the ears 6 mm. The animal weighs 10 g, has a brown fur on the back with a central dark brown zone that extends from the top of the head to the hips, and a whitish belly. The hair of the peritoneum has dark gray bases. The three Dromiciops species differ mainly in terms of their skull morphology. Dromiciops bozinovici has a broad, short snout, a straight forehead and a flattened brain skull. Seen from the side, the skull looks flat, the edges of the muzzle are straight when seen from above. The upper canines are short, the first upper premolar is small.
Way of life
Little is known about the way of life of Dromiciops bozinovici , as most of the studies so far have concerned the Chiloé opossum. The forests in which the species occurs are mainly characterized by the Coihue southern beech ( Nothofagus dombeyi ), with the bamboo species Chusquea culeou , the Boldo ( Peumus boldus ), Aextoxicon punctatum and the laurel plant Persea lingue as undergrowth. The round to oval nest of the animals is built from leaves at a height of one to two meters above the ground and resembles a bird's nest. If the ambient temperature falls below 20 ° C, Dromiciops bozinovici falls into a topor, a state of rest with a lowered body temperature that can last for 10 hours. At an ambient temperature of around 12.5 ° C, the topor can last up to 120 hours.
The snake Philodryas chamissonis chases after the young animals. The adults are among the most important prey of the rust-footed owl ( Strix rufipes ). They are also eaten by the puma .
Rodents with similar lifestyles, which in the circulation area of Dromiciops bozinovici occur that are Andean field mice Abrothrix hirta and Abrothrix olivacea , the Great long claws mouse Chelemys macronyx that geoxus ( Geoxus valdivianus ), the Chile-rat ( Irenomys tarsal ) loxodontomys micropus , the pygmy rice rat Oligoryzomys longicaudatus and the forest degu ( Octodon bridgesi ).
The area inhabited by Dromiciops bozinovici is relatively large, but highly fragmented by humans. In the distribution area there are some Chilean national parks, e.g. B. the Nahuelbuta National Park and the Tolhuaca National Park .
literature
- 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