Caluromys lanatus
(I. von Olfers, 1818)
Brown-eared Woolly Opossum
Taxonomy
| Subclass | : Theria |
| Infraclass | : Marsupialia |
| Superorder | : Ameridelphia |
| Order | : Didelphimorphia |
| Family | : Didelphidae |
| Subfamily | : Caluromyinae |
| Genus | : Caluromys |
| Subgenus | : Mallodelphys |
Species status
Authority citation
Olfers, I. von. 1818. Bemerkungen zu Illiger's Ueberblick der Säugthiere, nach ihrer Vertheilung über die Welttheile, rücksichtlich der Südamericanischen Arten (Species). Pp. 192–237 in Eschwege, W.L. (eds.). Journal von Brasilien, oder vermischte Nachrichten aus Brasilien, auf wissenschaftlichen Reisen gesammelt. Zweiter Heft. Privilegirtes Landes-Industrie-Comptoir, Weimar, 304 pp.
Authority publication link
https://archive.org/details/DELTA54086_2FA/page/n215Original name as described
Didelphys lanata
Other common names
Western Woolly Opossum
Type material
MNCN M2630
Type kind
holotype
Type locality
"Paraguay." Restricted by A. Cabrera in 1916 to "Caazapá," Paraguay.
Biogeographic realm
Neotropic
Country distribution
Colombia · Venezuela · Brazil · Ecuador · Peru · Bolivia · Paraguay · Argentina
Distribution notes
From N Colombia and N Venezuela to N and E Bolivia, E Paraguay, and W and S Brazil, including E Ecuador and E Peru, E of the Andes.
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. lanantus_ sister to _C. derbianus_ (cytochrome b; Voss et al. 2019; Voss 2022). The species level distinction between _C. lanatus_ and _C. derbianus_ was based primarily on a single morphological trait (ear color) and until the 1940s, the two species were considered conspecific; however, mitochdondrial molecular data supports there species status (Voss et al. 2019) while skull morphometrics have failed to differentiate them (López-Fuster et al. 2008). From four (Cabrera 1958; Cáceres and Carmignotto 2006) to six (Gardner 2008) subspecies have been recognized based on geographic variation in morphology, but morphometric analysis suggests just two (Fonseca and Astúa 2015); published molecular data (Voss et al. 2019) is limited to just the distribution of one of these two subspecies (ochropus), where low genetic diversity was found, supporting the position that only 1-2 subspecies exist. Two subspecies tentatively recognized pending further taxonomic revisions: _C. l. lanatus_ and _C. l. ochropus_.
Taxonomy notes citation
Cabrera, A. (1958). Catalogo de los Mamiferos de America del Sur. I. (Metatheria-Unguiculata-Carnivora). Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciancias Naturales, Ciencias Zoologicas, 4(1), 1-307. · Cáceres, N. C., & Carmignotto, A. P. (2006). Caluromys lanatus. Mammalian Species, (803), 1-6. · 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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