Short-tailed opossum
Monodelphis is a genus of marsupials in the family Didelphidae, commonly referred to as short-tailed opossums. They are found throughout South America. The genus includes a model organism and one of the few semelparous mammals., the most recently described species is M. vossi.
Species
- Sepia short-tailed opossum
- Northern three-striped opossum
- Arlindo's short-tailed opossum
- Northern red-sided opossum
- Yellow-sided opossum
- Gray short-tailed opossum
- Emilia's short-tailed opossum
- Gardner's short-tailed opossum
- Amazonian red-sided opossum
- Handley's short-tailed opossum
- Ihering's three-striped opossum
- Pygmy short-tailed opossum
- Marajó short-tailed opossum
- Osgood's short-tailed opossum
- Hooded red-sided opossum
- Peruvian short-tailed opossum
- Long-nosed short-tailed opossum
- Reig's opossum
- Ronald's opossum
- Chestnut-striped opossum
- Saci short-tailed opossum
- Santa Rosa short-tailed opossum
- Long-nosed short-tailed opossum
- Southern red-sided opossum
- Southern three-striped opossum
- Touan short-tailed opossum
- Red three-striped opossum
- One-striped opossum
- Voss's short-tailed opossum
Behavior
Short-tailed opossums show a rich repertoire of stereotyped behaviors. Postures, locomotion, and grooming behaviours are similar to those of other didelphids. They also can carry nest materials using their short prehensile tails.Short-tailed opossums show specialized behaviors for dealing with challenging prey. For example, attacks and initial consumption of large insects are initially directed to the insect's head, hairy caterpillars are scratched to get rid of the urticating hairs, and mice are attacked using a throat clamp technique.