Short-tailed opossum

Short-tailed opossums
Gray Short-tailed Opossum Monodelphis domestica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Didelphimorphia
Family:	Didelphidae
Subfamily:	Didelphinae
Genus:	Monodelphis Burnett, 1830
Type species
Monodelphis brachyura Burnett, 1830
Species
20 species, see article.

Monodelphis is a genus of marsupials in the family Didelphidae, commonly referred to as short-tailed opossums. They are found throughout South America.

Species

• Sepia Short-tailed Opossum (Monodelphis adusta)
• Northern Three-striped Opossum (Monodelphis americana)
• Northern Red-sided Opossum (Monodelphis brevicaudata)
• Yellow-sided Opossum (Monodelphis dimidiata)
• Gray Short-tailed Opossum (Monodelphis domestica)
• Emilia's Short-tailed Opossum (Monodelphis emiliae)
• Amazonian Red-sided Opossum (Monodelphis glirina)
• Ihering's Three-striped Opossum (Monodelphis iheringi)
• Pygmy Short-tailed Opossum (Monodelphis kunsi)
• Marajó Short-tailed Opossum (Monodelphis maraxina)
• Osgood's Short-tailed Opossum (Monodelphis osgoodi)
• Hooded Red-sided Opossum (Monodelphis palliolata)
• Reig's Opossum (Monodelphis reigi)
• Ronald's Opossum (Monodelphis ronaldi)
• Chestnut-striped Opossum (Monodelphis rubida)
• Long-nosed Short-tailed Opossum (Monodelphis scalops)
• Southern Red-sided Opossum (Monodelphis sorex)
• Southern Three-striped Opossum (Monodelphis theresa)
• Red Three-striped Opossum (Monodelphis umbristriata)
• One-striped Opossum (Monodelphis unistriata)

Conservation status

M. sorex and M. rubida are considered to be endangered. M. dimidiata is unusual in that it is a semelparous species, something rarely seen in mammals (found predominately in smaller didelphids and dasyurids).

References

• Know Your Short-tailed Opossum: Monodelphis
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System
• 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.). pp. 13-16. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=10400133.