Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Didelphimorphia > Didelphidae > Didelphis > Didelphis aurita

Didelphis aurita (Big-eared Opossum)

Wikipedia Abstract

The big-eared opossum (Didelphis aurita) also known as a saruê is an opossum species from South America. It is found in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. This species, which was considered a population of the common opossum (D. marsupialis) for some time, was originally described as D. azarae by Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1824, but this name was incorrectly given to the white-eared opossum (D. albiventris) for over 160 years. As such, the name azarae has been abandoned.
View Wikipedia Record: Didelphis aurita

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
10
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
35
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 19.74
EDGE Score: 3.03
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  3.086 lbs (1.40 kg)
Female Weight [1]  2.535 lbs (1.15 kg)
Male Weight [1]  3.638 lbs (1.65 kg)
Weight Dimorphism [1]  43.5 %
Diet [2]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Herbivore
Diet - Invertibrates [2]  20 %
Diet - Plants [2]  20 %
Diet - Scavenger [2]  30 %
Diet - Vertibrates [2]  30 %
Forages - Scansorial [2]  100 %
Female Maturity [3]  5 months 20 days
Male Maturity [1]  8 months
Gestation [1]  14 days
Litter Size [3]  6
Litters / Year [1]  2
Maximum Longevity [3]  4 years
Nocturnal [4]  Yes
Snout to Vent Length [1]  16 inches (40 cm)
Weaning [3]  3 months 10 days

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Bosque Mbaracayú Biosphere Reserve V 691895 Paraguay  
Mata Atlântica Biosphere Reserve 72830565 Brazil  
Parque Estadual Intervales State Park II 100998 Brazil  
San Rafael, Reserva de Recursos Manejados Managed Resource Reserve VI 165840 Paraguay  

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Atlantic Forest Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay No

Prey / Diet

Cecropia glazioui[5]
Cecropia hololeuca[5]
Syagrus romanzoffiana (Queen Palm)[5]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Aspidodera raillieti <Unverified Name>[6]
Gynaecotyla jaegerskioldi <Unverified Name>[6]
Maritrema pulcherrima <Unverified Name>[6]
Travassostrongylus callis[6]

Range Map

External References

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
♦ 2Hamish 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
♦ 3de 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
♦ 4Myers, 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
♦ 5Frugivory by the black-eared opossum Didelphis aurita in the Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil: Roles of sex, season and sympatric species, Nilton C. Cáceres, Lucineia Z. Prates, Ivo R. Ghizoni-Jr, Maurício E. Graipel, Biotemas, 22 (3): 203-211, setembro de 2009
♦ 6Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
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