Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Didelphimorphia > Didelphidae > Didelphis > Didelphis virginiana

Didelphis virginiana (Virginia Opossum)

Synonyms: Didelphis marsupialis virginiana
Language: French; Spanish

Wikipedia Abstract

The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), commonly known as the North American opossum, is the only marsupial found in North America north of Mexico. In the United States, it is typically referred to simply as a possum. It is a solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat. It is a successful opportunist. It is familiar to many North Americans as it is often seen near towns, rummaging through garbage cans, or as roadkill.
View Wikipedia Record: Didelphis virginiana

Infraspecies

Didelphis virginiana californica
Didelphis virginiana pigra (Virginia opossum)
Didelphis virginiana virginiana (Virginia opossum)
Didelphis virginiana yucatanensis

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
10
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
35
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 19.92
EDGE Score: 3.04
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  3.086 lbs (1.40 kg)
Birth Weight [2]  .16 grams
Female Weight [2]  4.189 lbs (1.90 kg)
Male Weight [2]  6.173 lbs (2.80 kg)
Weight Dimorphism [2]  47.4 %
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Herbivore
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  20 %
Diet - Plants [3]  20 %
Diet - Scavenger [3]  30 %
Diet - Vertibrates [3]  30 %
Forages - Scansorial [3]  100 %
Female Maturity [4]  6 months 4 days
Male Maturity [4]  8 months 3 days
Gestation [4]  12 days
Litter Size [4]  15
Litters / Year [2]  2
Maximum Longevity [4]  7 years
Nocturnal [5]  Yes
Snout to Vent Length [1]  16 inches (40 cm)
Speed [2]  4.474 MPH (2 m/s)
Weaning [4]  3 months 12 days

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

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Ecosystems

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands Mexico, United States No
Mesoamerica Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama No

Habitat Vegetation Classification

Name Location  Website 
Appalachian Ruderal Hardwood Forest United States (South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia)
Interior Low Plateau Mesic Bottomland Forest United States (Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio)
Loblolly-bay Swamp Forest United States (North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia)
Maple - Ash - Elm Swamp Canada (Ontario); United States (Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan)
Midwestern Cottonwood - Black Willow - Silver Maple Floodplain Forest United States (Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana)
Mississippi River Red Maple - Water-locust Bottomland Forest United States (Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas)
Overcup Oak - Sweetgum Bottomland Forest United States (Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana)
Pin Oak - Post Oak Lowland Flatwoods United States (Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas)
Silver Maple - Sugarberry - Pecan Floodplain Forest United States (Tennessee, Illinois, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana)
Southern Green Ash - Elm - Sugarberry Floodplain Forest United States (Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missouri, Alabama)
Swamp Chestnut Oak - Sweetgum Floodplain Forest United States (Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois)
West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna (High Terraces Type) United States (Louisiana, Texas)
Willow Oak Bottomland Flatwoods Forest United States (Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas)

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

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Predators

Providers

Consumers

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Didelphis virginiana, John J. McManus, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 40, pp. 1-6 (1974)
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 5Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 6Study of Northern Virginia Ecology
♦ 7Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 8Phenology, seed dispersal, and recruitment in Cecropia peltata (Moraceae) in Cost Rican tropical dry forest, Theodore H. Fleming and Charles F. Williams, Journal of Tropical Ecology (1990) 6:163-178
♦ 9Myotis austroriparius, Clyde Jones and Richard W. Manning, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 332, pp. 1-3 (1989)
♦ 10Sciurus niger, John L. Koprowski, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 479, pp. 1-9 (1994)
♦ 11Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
♦ 12International Flea Database
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0