Bare tail pouch rat (species)
| Bare tail pouch rat | ||||||||||||
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| Metachirus nudicaudatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Saint-Hilaire , 1803) |
The naked-tailed possum ( Metachirus nudicaudatus ) is a South American bag species from the genus of naked-tailed opossum . It occurs in northeastern South America, in eastern Venezuela, in the three Guayanas and in the Brazilian states of Amapá and Pará .
description
Males of the naked tail pouch rat reach a head body length of 25.5 to 29.8 cm, have a 30.2 to 38 cm long tail, 44 to 51 mm long hind feet, 35 to 40 mm long ears and reach a weight of 330 to 480 g. Females stay smaller with a head body length of 24 to 29 cm, a 32.6 to 37 cm long tail and a weight of 260 to 410 g. Their hind feet reach a length of 41 to 46 mm and the ears are 35 to 41 mm long. The nudibranch rat is thus slightly larger than the Temminck nudibranch rat , the second species of nudibranch rat. The outwardly very similar species can be distinguished primarily on the basis of their skull morphology. Large, older males of both species develop a two-part crest consisting of a right and left section . Both parts of the crest are separated over their entire length in the nudibranch rat, while they converge on the rear skull of the Temminck nudibranch rat. The rostrum (the snout) is less strongly developed in the bare-tailed rat and the zygomatic arches are less rounded than in the Temminck-bare-tailed rat. The palate windows are longer and wider in the bare-tailed rat than in the myosuros muscle . Nakedtail pouch rats are the largest pouch rats whose females have no pouches, but only a hairless brood spot with nine teats, four on each side and one in the middle. The size and shape of the skull are different in males and females.
Systematics
Metachirus nudicaudatus was first described scientifically in 1803 by the French zoologist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire . All other species of bare-tailed rats described later were later synonymous with Metachirus nudicaudatus and M. nudicaudatus was thus the only species of the genus Metachirus monotypical for a long time . However, there are large genetic differences between the nudibranch pouch rats from different regions.
In June 2019, the pouch rat expert Robert S. Voss and two other biologists therefore divided the bare tail pouch rats into two species. The populations occurring in northeastern South America, which have a basal position in the Metachirus family tree, are separated from the other nudibranch rats as an independent species. This species is named Metachirus nudicaudatus because the terra typica of Metachirus nudicaudatus is in French Guiana . All other populations and subspecies are grouped under the name Metachirus myosuros .
The relationships within the bare-tailed pouch rats according to Voss et al .:
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supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e Robert S. Voss, David W. Fleck and Sharon A. Jansa: Mammalian Diversity and Matses Ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru Part 3: Marsupials (Didelphimorphia). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 2019 (432): 1-90. doi: 10.1206 / 0003-0090.432.1.1 , pages 61-68.
- ↑ a b Diego Astua: Family Didelphidae (possums). Pages 70-186 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 157.
- ^ Patton, JL and LP Costa. 2003. Molecular phylogeography and species limits in rainforest didelphid marsupials of South America. Page 66 and 68 in ME Jones, CR Dickman and M. Archer (editors), Predators with pouches: the biology of carnivorous marsupials. 63-81. Melbourne: CSIRO Press.