Slim-pouch rats
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Gray slender-pouch rat ( Marmosops incanus ) |
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| Matschie , 1916 |
The marmosops ( Marmosops ) are a genus of the family of opossums (Didelphidae). They are native to America, their distribution area extends from Panama to central South America .
General
Slim - pouched rats are mouse-like marsupials that do not have a pouch. Their fur is gray or brown on the upper side, the underside is lighter, often whitish. Like all smaller opossum rats, they have large eyes, pointed snouts, and large ears. These animals reach a head body length of 9 to 16 centimeters and a tail length of 11 to 22 centimeters.
The habitat of slim-pouch rats are predominantly forests, sometimes they also occur on plantations. They are nocturnal loners who mostly live in the trees, but sometimes also come to the ground. During the day they sleep in nests made of leaves and twigs or use empty bird nests. They are omnivores that primarily eat insects and fruits. Sometimes they also consume small vertebrates and bird eggs.
Since the females do not have a pouch, they drag the young around with them hanging on their bodies in the first few months of life. As with all opossum rats, the gestation period is short (around 14 days), the litter size is high (6 to 7) and the life expectancy is low.
Slim-pouched rats are not pursued directly by humans, but suffer from the loss of habitat due to forest clearing.
Systematics
Before 1989, the slim- pouch rats were classified in the genus of the dwarf pouch rats ( Marmosa ). However, the two genera differ in details of the skull structure and a gland on the larynx, which is missing in the males of the slim-pouch rats in contrast to the dwarf pouch rats.
The genus Marmosops includes over 20 species:
- Subgenus Marmosops
- Marmosops caucae occurs in the northern Andes.
- Creighton's slim-pouch rat ( Marmosops creightoni ) is only known from the area around the Bolivian seat of government La Paz.
- The gray slim-pouch rat ( Marmosops incanus ) occurs in eastern and southeastern Brazil .
- The white-bellied slim-pouch rat ( Marmosops noctivagus ) is native to the western Amazon basin.
- The eyeglass slim- bag rat ( Marmosops ocellatus ) occurs in Bolivia and the Brazilian Mato Grosso.
- The Brazilian slender-pouch rat ( Marmosops paulensis ) lives near the coast in southeastern Brazil.
- Marmosops soinii occurs in Peru.
- Subgenus Sciophanes
- Bishop's slender-pouch rat ( Marmosops bishopi ) occurs in the southwestern Amazon basin .
- Marmosops carri occurs in Trinidad , Tobago and in the coastal mountains of northern Venezuela .
- Marmosops chucha lives in Colombia west of the Rio Magdalena .
- The dark slender-pouch rat ( Marmosops fuscatus ) lives in northern Venezuela .
- Handley's slender-pouch rat ( Marmosops handleyi ) occurs only in very small forest fragments in the Colombian Departamento de Antioquia . The IUCN lists the species as critically endangered.
- The Panama slender-pouch rat ( Marmosops invictus ) is endemic to Panama .
- The Junin slender-pouch rat ( Marmosops juninensis ) is only known from a small area in the Junín region of Peru .
- Marmosops magdalenae lives in Colombia east of the Rio Magdalena.
- Marmosops ojastii occurs in northern and western Venezuela.
- The pantepui slender-pouch rat ( Marmosops pakaraimae ) lives in a small area in southeastern Venezuela and western Guyana.
- The petite slim-pouch rat ( Marmosops parvidens ) is native to a large part of northern South America.
- Pinheiros slim- bag rat ( Marmosops pinheiroi ) occurs in northeastern South America.
In the marsupial volume of the Handbook of the Mammals of the World , two other species are named, the Neblina slender rat ( M. neblina Gardner, 1990) from the western Amazon basin and Tschudi's slender rat ( M. impavidus Tschudi, 1845) from northwestern South America. The former is possibly a synonym of Marmosops caucae and the name Marmosops impavidus was used in the past for two different species and since a type specimen cannot be found, the species is currently considered the noun dubium .
The relationship of a large part of the species of slim-pouched rats to one another is illustrated by the following cladogram :
| Marmosops |
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The cladogram shows that there are three so far not described species in the subgenus Marmosops ( Marmosops 'Condor A', Marmosops 'Condor B' and Marmosops 'Juruá'). These three species are all found in Peru, on the eastern slope of the Andes, as well as in the Peruvian part of the Amazon rainforest to the east and Marmosops 'Juruá' also in neighboring western Brazil and northern Bolivia.
annotation
- ↑ Marmosops caucae and Marmosops ucayaliensis differ in their cytochrome b genome by 3.9%, but hardly morphologically. It is therefore unclear whether these are different species.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Diego Astua: Family Didelphidae (possums). Pages 180-186 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
- ^ A b Juan F. Díaz ‐ Nieto, Robert S. Voss (2016). "A Revision of the Didelphid Marsupial Genus Marmosops , Part 1. Species of the Subgenus Sciophanes ". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 402: 1-70. doi: 10.1206 / 0003-0090-402.1.1
- ↑ 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
- ↑ a b c Juan F. Díaz ‐ Nieto, Sharon A. Jansa, Robert S. Voss: DNA sequencing reveals unexpected Recent diversity and an ancient dichotomy in the American marsupial genus Marmosops (Didelphidae: Thylamyini). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 176: 914-940. doi: 10.1111 / zoj.12343
