| Didelphinae [1] [2] | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in Ohio. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Didelphimorphia |
| Family: | Didelphidae |
| Subfamily: | Didelphinae Gray, 1821 |
| Genera | |
Chacodelphys Contents | |
The Didelphinae are a subfamily of opossums consisting of 15 genera and 123 species. [2] [3] [4] Specimens have been collected throughout the Americas, but are predominant in South and Central America. [5]
Some sources call this subfamily the "American opossums", [2] [6] while others use that term for the whole family of opossums, Didelphidae. [1] The term may be redundant, though, since all opossums are native to the Americas, while their distant Australian taxonomic relatives, in the suborder Phalangeriformes are referred to as possums in Australia.
