Thylamys[1] | |
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Elegant fat-tailed mouse opossum | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
Order: | Didelphimorphia |
Family: | Didelphidae |
Subfamily: | Didelphinae |
Tribe: | Thylamyini |
Genus: | Thylamys J. E. Gray, 1843 |
Type species | |
Didelphis elegans Waterhouse 1839
| |
Species | |
See text |
Thylamys is a genus of opossums in the family Didelphidae. The premaxillae are rounded rather than pointed. The females lack a pouch. The females' nipples are arranged in two symmetrical rows on the abdomen.[2] All species but T. macrurus store fat in their tails.,[3] although this is not necessarily true for all species in the genus.[4] Fossils belonging to the genus date back to the Miocene, with the oldest specimens being found in the Cerro Azul Formation of Argentina and the Honda Group of Colombia.[5] Genetic studies indicate that the genus may have originated around 14 million years ago.[6]
Cladogram of living Thylamys species.[7][8]
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Other species of Thylamys.[11]