Grayish mouse opossum

Grayish mouse opossum
Grayish mouse opossum[1]
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Didelphimorphia
Family: Didelphidae
Genus: Tlacuatzin
Voss and Jansa, 2003
Species: T. canescens
Binomial name
Tlacuatzin canescens
(J. A. Allen, 1893)
Grayish mouse opossum range

The grayish mouse opossum (Tlacuatzin canescens, formerly Marmosa canescens) is a species of opossum in the family Didelphidae, and is the sole member of the genus Tlacuatzin. It is endemic to Mexico from southern Sonora to Oaxaca, with populations also on the Islas Marías and in the central Yucatán Peninsula.

This opossum occupies seasonally arid habitats, especially mixed deciduous forests, up to an elevation of 2100 m. It is semiarboreal, being more terrestrial in its habits than other mouse opossums.[2] The species has a fairly omnivorous diet, consuming insects and other small animals, eggs and fruit. It builds nests, generally in forks or hollows of trees, bushes or cacti, or in rock crevices and rarely on the ground. It may also use abandoned birds' nests.[2] Breeding occurs in late summer and early autumn, with litter size ranging from 8 to 13.[2]

References

  1. ^ Gardner, Alfred L. (16 November 2005). "Order Didelphimorphia (pp. 3-18)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). p. 18. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=10400173. 
  2. ^ a b c d "Tlacuatzin canescens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. 2008. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/12813. Retrieved 22 October 2011. 

See also

translation of Spanish Wikipedia article


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