Bare-tailed woolly opossum
| Bare-tailed Woolly Opossum | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Didelphimorphia |
| Family: | Caluromyidae |
| Genus: | Caluromys |
| Subgenus: | Caluromys |
| Species: | C. philander |
| Binomial name | |
| Caluromys philander (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
| Subspecies | |
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| Bare-tailed Woolly Opossum range | |
The bare-tailed woolly opossum (Caluromys philander), also called the white-eared opossum, is an opossum species from South America. Its range includes Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. It is a species restricted only to moist forests.
Like other members of the genus Caluromys, the bare-tailed woolly opossum is a strongly arboreal species of marsupial, differing from other didelphid opossums in having a comparatively large encephalization quotient and smaller litter size. Its name comes from its naked, prehensile tail.
It feeds on fruits, nectar, invertebrates and small vertebrates. Bare-tailed woolly opossums actively climb through the upper canopy of trees as they look for fruit and insects.
References
- ↑ Brito, D., Astua de Moraes, D., Lew, D., Soriano, P. & Emmons, L. (2008). Caluromys philander. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
- Eisenberg, John F.; Redford, Kent H. (May 15, 2000). Mammals of the Neotropics, Volume 3: The Central Neotropics: Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil. University of Chicago Press. pp. 624 (see pp. 79–80). ISBN 978-0-226-19542-1.
- Gardner, A.L. (2005). "Order Didelphimorphia". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.