Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Didelphimorphia > Didelphidae > Monodelphis > Monodelphis domestica

Monodelphis domestica (Gray Short-tailed Opossum)

Synonyms: Didelphys domestica (homotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

The gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica) is a small South American member of the Didelphidae family of opossums. It was the first marsupial to have its genome sequenced. The opossum is used as a research model in science, and is also frequently found in the exotic pet trade. It is also known as the Brazilian opossum, rainforest opossum and in a research setting the laboratory opossum.
View Wikipedia Record: Monodelphis domestica

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
6
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
29
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 12.94
EDGE Score: 2.63
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  95 grams
Birth Weight [2]  .1 grams
Female Weight [1]  90 grams
Male Weight [1]  100 grams
Weight Dimorphism [1]  11.1 %
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Frugivore, Granivore
Diet - Endothermic [3]  20 %
Diet - Fruit [3]  20 %
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  20 %
Diet - Scavenger [3]  20 %
Diet - Seeds [3]  20 %
Forages - Ground [3]  100 %
Female Maturity [4]  4 months 2 days
Male Maturity [4]  4 months 2 days
Gestation [4]  15 days
Litter Size [4]  9
Litters / Year [2]  4
Maximum Longevity [4]  5 years
Nocturnal [5]  Yes
Snout to Vent Length [1]  7 inches (17 cm)
Weaning [4]  53 days

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

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

Predators

Puma yagouaroundi (Jaguarundi)[6]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Adoratopsylla antiquorum antiquorum[7]
Amblyomma dissimile (Iguana Tick)[2]
Aspidodera scoleciformis <Unverified Name>[8]
Polygenis bohlsi jordani[7]
Viannaia monodelphisi[8]

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
♦ 2Monodelphis domestica, Thomas E. Macrini, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 760, pp. 1–8 (2004)
♦ 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
♦ 6Herpailurus yagouaroundi, Tadeu G. de Oliveira, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 578, pp. 1-6 (1998)
♦ 7International Flea Database
♦ 8Gibson, 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