Caluromys derbianus
(G. R. Waterhouse, 1841)
Derby's Woolly Opossum
Taxonomy
| Subclass | : Theria |
| Infraclass | : Marsupialia |
| Superorder | : Ameridelphia |
| Order | : Didelphimorphia |
| Family | : Didelphidae |
| Subfamily | : Caluromyinae |
| Genus | : Caluromys |
| Subgenus | : Mallodelphys |
Species status
Authority citation
Waterhouse, G.R. 1841-08. The Naturalist's Library. Mammalia. Vol. XI. Marsupialia or Pouched Animals. W. H. Lizars, Edinburgh, 323 pp.
Authority publication link
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/18064667Original name as described
Didelphys Derbianus
Other common names
Central American Woolly Opossum · Derby's Pale-eared Woolly Opossum
Type material
LIVCM D.194
Type kind
holotype
Type locality
type locality unknown. Restricted by A. Cabrera in 1958 to "Valle del Cauca, Colombia."
Biogeographic realm
Nearctic · Neotropic
Country distribution
Mexico · Belize · Guatemala · Honduras · Nicaragua · Costa Rica · Panama · Colombia · Ecuador
Distribution notes
Veracruz, Mexico in the N, through most of Central America (excluding El Salvador) and into NW South America, including W Colombia and W Ecuador.
Distribution references
Voss, R. S. (2022). An annotated checklist of recent opossums (Mammalia: Didelphidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 455(1), 1-76.
Taxonomy notes
Included in the subgenus Mallodelphys, which is supported based on morphological traits and mitochondrial phylogenies, which places _C. derbianus_ sister to _C. lanatus_ (cytochrome b; Voss et al. 2019; Voss 2022). The species level distinction between _C. derbianus_ and _C. lanatus_ was based primarily on a single morphological trait (ear color) and until the 1940s, the two species were considered conspecific; however, mitochondrial molecular data supports their species status (Voss et al. 2019) while skull morphometrics have failed to differentiate them (López-Fuster et al. 2008). As many as seven subspecies have been recognized based primarily on geographic variation (Bucher and Hoffmann 1980; Gardner 2008), but both mitochondrial molecular (Voss et al. 2019) and morphometric data (Fonseca and Astúa 2015) have shown that variation across the distribution of the species is shallow and that the species should be considered monotypic. Monotypic.
Taxonomy notes citation
Bucher, J. E., & Hoffmann, R. S. (1980). Caluromys derbianus. Mammalian species, (140), 1-4. · Gardner, A. L. (2008). Genus Caluromys J. A. Allen, 1900. In: A. L. Gardner, Mammals of South America, Volume 1: Marsupials, Xenarthrans, Shrews, and Bats. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 3-11. · Fonseca, R., & Astúa, D. (2015). Geographic variation in Caluromys derbianus and Caluromys lanatus (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae). Zoologia (Curitiba), 32, 109-122. · Voss, R. S., Fleck, D. W., & Jansa, S. A. (2019). Mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru part 3: marsupials (Didelphimorphia). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 2019(432), 1-90. · Voss, R. S. (2022). An annotated checklist of recent opossums (Mammalia: Didelphidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 455(1), 1-76.
IUCN Red List status
Least Concern
Species Permalink
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Names and synonyms
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