Thylamys

Thylamys [1] Temporal range: Mid Miocene (Colloncuran) to Recent ~14–0  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Elegant fat-tailed mouse opossum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Didelphimorphia
Family:	Didelphidae
Subfamily:	Didelphinae
Tribe:	Thylamyini
Genus:	Thylamys J. E. Gray, 1843
Type species
Didelphis elegans Waterhouse 1839
Species
See text

Thylamys is a genus of opossums in the family Didelphidae. The premaxillae are rounded rather than pointed. The females lack a pouch. The females' nipples are arranged in two symmetrical rows on the abdomen. ^[2] All species but T. macrurus store fat in their tails, ^[3] although this is not necessarily true for all species in the genus. ^[4] Fossils belonging to the genus date back to the Miocene, with the oldest specimens being found in the Cerro Azul Formation of Argentina and the Honda Group of Colombia. ^[5] Genetic studies indicate that the genus may have originated around 14 million years ago. ^[6]

Taxonomy

Cladogram of living Thylamys species. ^{[7] [8]}

T. karimii (Petter 1968) Reig, Kirsch & Marshall 1987 (Karimi's fat-tailed mouse opossum) T. velutinus (Wagner 1842) Miranda-Ribeiro 1936 (Dwarf fat-tailed mouse opossum) T. tatei (Handley 1957) Reig, Kirsch & Marshall 1987 (Tate's fat-tailed mouse opossum) T. elegans (Waterhouse 1839) Gray 1843b (Elegant fat-tailed mouse opossum) T. pallidior (Thomas 1902) Gardner & Creighton 1989 (White-bellied fat-tailed mouse opossum) T. citellus (Thomas 1912c) [9] T. pulchellus (Cabrera 1934) [10] (Argentine fat-tailed mouse opossum) T. pusillus (Desmarest 1804) Reig, Kirsch & Marshall 1987 (Common fat-tailed mouse opossum) T. macrurus (Olfers 1818) Gardner & Creighton 1989 (Paraguayan fat-tailed mouse opossum) T. venustus Thomas 1902 (Buff-bellied fat-tailed mouse opossum) T. cinderella (Thomas 1902) Flores, Díaz & Barquez 2000 (Cinderella fat-tailed mouse opossum) T. sponsorius (Thomas 1921) Flores, Díaz & Barquez 2000 (Argentine fat-tailed mouse opossum)

Other species of Thylamys. ^[11]

• †T. colombianusGoin 1997
• T. fenestrae (Marelli 1932) ^[12]
• †T. minutusGoin 1997
• †T. pineiGoin, Montalvo & Visconti 2000
• †T. zettiiGoin 1997

References

1. Gardner, A.L. (2005). "Order Didelphimorphia". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
2. Eisenberg, John Frederick; Redford, Kent Hubbard (1999). Mammals of the Neotropics: The Central Neotropics: Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil. University of Chicago Press. p. 624. ISBN   978-0-226-19542-1.
3. Gardner, Alfred L. (2008). Mammals of South America: Marsupials, xenarthrans, shrews, and bats. University of Chicago Press. p. 669. ISBN   978-0-226-28240-4.
4. Voss, R.S. & Jansa, S.A. (2003). "Nonmolecular data and new IRBP sequences: separate and combined analyses of didelphine relationships with denser taxon sampling". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 276: 1–82. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2003)276<0001:PSODMI>2.0.CO;2. hdl:2246/444. S2CID   55193165.
5. Braun, J.K.; et al. (2005). "Phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of mouse opossums Thylamys (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae) in southern South America". Journal of Mammalogy. 86 (1): 147–159. doi: 10.1644/1545-1542(2005)086<0147:PABROM>2.0.CO;2 .
6. Steiner, C.; et al. (2005). "New DNA data from transthyretin nuclear intron suggest an Oligocene to Miocene diversification of living South American opossums (Marsupialia: Didelphidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 35 (2): 363–379. Bibcode:2005MolPE..35..363S. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.12.013. PMID   15804409.
7. Upham, Nathan S.; Esselstyn, Jacob A.; Jetz, Walter (2019). "Inferring the mammal tree: Species-level sets of phylogenies for questions in ecology, evolution and conservation". PLOS Biol. 17 (12): e3000494. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000494 . PMC   6892540 . PMID   31800571.
8. Amador, Lucila I.; Giannini, Norberto P. (2016). "Phylogeny and evolution of body mass in didelphid marsupials (Marsupialia: Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae)". Organisms Diversity & Evolution. 16 (3): 641–657. doi:10.1007/s13127-015-0259-x. hdl: 11336/50679 . S2CID   17393886.
9. Flores, D.; Teta, P. (2016). "Thylamys citellus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T199835A22172943. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T199835A22172943.en . Retrieved 9 January 2020.
10. Flores, D.; Teta, P. (2016). "Thylamys pulchellus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T199834A22172571. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T199834A22172571.en . Retrieved 9 January 2020.
11. Thylamys at Fossilworks.org
12. Martin, G.M.; Flores, D. (2016). "Thylamys fenestrae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T199836A22172852. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T199836A22172852.en . Retrieved 9 January 2020.