Published April 4, 2022 | Version v1

Thylamys (Thylamys) pusillus

Authors/Creators

Description

Thylamys (Thylamys) pusillus (Desmarest, 1804)

TYPE MATERIAL AND TYPE LOCALITY: MVZ 144311, the neotype (designated by Voss et al., 2009a), consists of the skin and skull of an adult male collected on the Trans-Chaco Highway (Ruta Nacional 9) 460 km NW Villa Hayes (ca. 28.37° S, 60.20° W), Boquerón department, Paraguay.

SYNONYMS: bruchi Thomas, 1921; citellus Thomas, 1912; nanus Olfers, 1818; pulchellus Cabrera,1934; verax Thomas, 1921.

DISTRIBUTION: As recognized herein (see Remarks), Thylamys pusillus occurs in southeastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, and northern Argentina, including the Dry Chaco, Humid Chaco, Mesopotamian Savanna, and Humid Pampas ecoregions (Teta et al., 2009: fig. 1).

REMARKS: Teta et al. (2009) recognized Thylamys citellus and T. pulchellus as valid species distinct from T. pusillus, but Giarla et al. (2010: 41–43) were unable to distinguish these allopatric taxa morphologically and, therefore, treated them as synonyms. South American authors (e.g., Palma et al., 2014) have subsequently tended to follow Teta et al. (2009), so the binomina T. citellus and T. pulchellus remain in current use. Because geographic variation in morphology and isolation by distance remain plausible explanations for the reported phenotypic and genetic differences among these nominal taxa, it still seems an appropriately conservative option to treat them as conspecific.

Notes

Published as part of Voss, Robert S., 2022, An Annotated Checklist Of Recent Opossums (Mammalia: Didelphidae), pp. 1-77 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2022 (455) on page 55, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090.455.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7161371

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Scientific name authorship
Desmarest
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Order
Didelphimorphia
Family
Didelphidae
Genus
Thylamys
Species
pusillus
Taxon rank
species
Taxonomic concept label
Thylamys (Thylamys) pusillus (Desmarest, 1804) sec. Voss, 2022

References

  • Voss, R. S., P. Myers, F. Catzeflis, A. P. Carmignotto, and J. Barreiro. 2009 a. The six opossums of Felix de Azara: identification, taxonomic history, neotype designations, and nomenclatural recommendations. In R. S. Voss and M. D. Carleton (editors), Systematic mammalogy: contributions in honor of Guy G. Musser. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 331: 406 - 433.
  • Teta, P., G. D'Elia, D. Flores, and N. de la Sancha. 2009. Diversity and distribution of the mouse opossums of the genus Thylamys (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae) in northeastern and central Argentina. Gayana 73: 180 - 199.
  • Giarla, T. C., R. S. Voss, and S. A. Jansa. 2010. Species limits and phylogenetic relationships in the didelphid marsupial genus Thylamys based on mitochondrial DNA sequences and morphology. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 346: 1 - 67.
  • Palma, R. E., et al. [nine additional coauthors]. 2014. Molecular phylogenetics of mouse opossums: new findings on the phylogeny of Thylamys (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae). Zoologica Scripta 43: 217 - 234.