Mouse pygmy pouch rat
| Mouse pygmy pouch rat | ||||||||||||
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A female of the mouse pygmy pouch rat with young animals sucked on the teats |
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| Marmosa murina | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The mouse dwarf pouch rat ( Marmosa murina ( synonyms : Didelphis murina , Marmosa tobagi )) is a species of marsupial that occurs in northwestern and western South America. Its distribution area includes Trinidad and Tobago , Venezuela, the three Guyanas and the regions of Brazil that lie north of the Amazon and west of the Rio Negro , as well as the Brazilian landscapes that lie south of the Amazon, east of the Rio Tapajós and north of the Río Paraná . To the west of this is the distribution area of the large- footed dwarf sacred rat ( Marmosa macrotarsus ), which was originally considered a subspecies of Marmosa murina , but has been considered a separate species since 2014.
description
Mouse dwarf pouch rats reach a head trunk length of 9.1 to 24 cm, and have a 13.9 to 28 cm long tail and a weight of 19 to 100 g. The tail is thus on average around 30% longer than the head and torso combined. It is only hairy at the base (approx. 10% of the length). Due to the large distribution area, the species is variable in color. The fur on the back varies from light brown to dark gray-brown, often mixed with lighter or orange-brown hair. The sides of the body are a little lighter. The belly can be cream to dark yellow or pink. A dark stripe in the middle of the back is missing. The fur is velvety and dense. Around the black eyes there are black or dark brown circles under the eyes that do not reach the base of the ear. The middle of the snout is lighter than the rest of the head. The front paws are brown to orange-brown, the rear paws light brown to whitish. Females do not have a pouch. The number of teats is eleven, five on each side and one in the middle. The karyotype is 2n = 14, FN = 24.
Habitat and way of life
The mouse pygmy pouch rat lives in rain and dry forests , in mangroves and in gallery forests and island-like isolated forests in the middle of savannahs from sea level to heights of 1350 meters. It is relatively tolerant of human interference in its living space. It is found near houses in northeastern Brazil, and in French Guiana it also lives in the traditional Wayapi huts . It is nocturnal and lives both on the ground and on trees and bushes up to heights of about five meters. It feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates. Their prey include beetles, hymenoptera , especially ants, millipedes and annelids . They also consume fruits, underneath of ants trees , Bellucia , Henriettea and figs. Every now and then, flowers, nectar or frogs are also eaten. On the ground, the animals look for small animals between the fallen leaves. In investigations in southeastern Brazil, all of the fecal samples from the mouse bag-rat contained arthropod remains and half contained semen. In central Brazil, the mouse-pouch rats reproduce in the dry season. A female has an average of 8.4 young animals, a maximum of eleven. At birth these are 10 mm long.
status
The IUCN classifies the population of the dwarf pouch rat as safe (Least Concern). It is widespread, copes well with the presence of people and human interference with their habitat, also lives in numerous protected areas, and is common. In French Guiana, 20 to 100 specimens were found in one square kilometer.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d Diego Astúa: Family Didelphidae (Opossums). in Don E. Wilson , Russell A. Mittermeier : Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Editions, 2015, ISBN 978-84-96553-99-6 . Page 140 and 141.
- ^ Voss, RS; Gutiérrez, EE; Solari, S .; Rossi, RV; Jansa, SA: Phylogenetic Relationships of Mouse Opossums (Didelphidae, Marmosa) with a Revised Subgeneric Classification and Notes on Sympatric Diversity. American Museum Novitates, No. 3817, 2014, SS 1–27 ( PDF )
- ↑ Marmosa murina in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2015 Posted by: Brito, D., Astua de Moraes, D., Lev, D. Soriano, P. & Emmons, L., 2015. Accessed February 18, 2019.