Didelphidae

Central American woolly opossum Caluromys derbianus, photographed by Adam von Haden.

Belongs within: Marsupialia.
Contains: Didelphinae.

The Didelphidae includes the opossums of North and South America (some sources divide them between the Didelphidae sensu stricto and Caluromyidae, but the 'Caluromyidae' are probably paraphyletic to the other didelphids). Morphological synapomorphies for the Didelphidae remain uncertain, but the monophyly of this clade is supported by molecular analysis, and side-by-side epididymal sperm-pairing has been found in all species investigated for this trait (Jansa & Voss 2005).

<==Didelphidae [Caluromyidae, Caluromyinae, Pedimana]
    |--Glironia Thomas 1912 JV05, C57
    |    |--*G. venusta Thomas 1912 [incl. G. aequatorialis Anthony 1926] C57
    |    `--G. criniger Anthony 1926 C57
    `--+--+--Didelphinae JV05
       |  `--Hyladelphys Voss et al. 2001 JV05
       |       `--*H. kalinowskii (Hershkovitz 1992) [=Gracilinanus kalinowskii] JV05
       `--+--Caluromysiops Sanborn 1951 JV05, C57
          |    `--*C. irrupta Sanborn 1951 C57
          `--Caluromys Allen 1900 JV05, C57 [incl. Mallodelphis Thomas 1920 C57]
               |--*C. philander (Linnaeus 1758) [=Didelphis philander, Philander philander] C57
               |    |--C. p. philander (see below for synonymy) C57
               |    |--C. p. affinis (Wagner 1842) [=Didelphis affinis, Philander philander affinis] C57
               |    `--C. p. dichrurus (Wagner 1842) [=Didelphis dichrura, Philander philander dichrura] C57
               |--C. derbianus (Waterhouse 1841) (see below for synonymy) C57
               |    |--C. d. derbianus G69
               |    `--C. d. aztecus G69
               `--C. lanatus (Illiger 1815) (see below for synonymy) C57
                    |--C. l. lanatus (see below for synonymy) C57
                    |--C. l. cicur (Bangs 1898) (see below for synonymy) C57
                    |--C. l. ochropus (Wagner 1842) (see below for synonymy) C57
                    `--C. l. ornatus (Tschudi 1845) (see below for synonymy) C57

Didelphidae incertae sedis:
  Thylophorops chapalmensis V91
  Oligobiotherium divisum S32
  Sparassocynus Mercerat 1898 [Sparassocyninae] S74
    |--S. bahiai S74
    `--S. derivatus S74
  ‘Diaphorodon’ Simpson 1927 non Archer 1869 V66
    `--*D. curtus (Marsh 1889) [=Cimolestes curtus] V66
  Hondadelphys M77
  Zygolestes paranensis M77
  Peratherium [incl. Herpetotherium Cope 1873] M60
    |--‘*Herpetotherium’ fugax Cope 1873 [=H. fuzax] M60
    |--‘Herpetotherium’ huntii Cope 1873 M60
    |--‘Herpetotherium’ stevensonii Cope 1873 M60
    `--‘Herpetotherium’ tricuspis Cope 1873 M60
  Thylacodon Matthew & Granger 1921 SFY02

Caluromys derbianus (Waterhouse 1841) [=Didelphys derbiana, C. (Mallodelphis) derbianus, Philander laniger derbianus; incl. Micoureus antioquiae Matschie 1917, Didelphys guayanus Thomas 1899, Philander laniger guayanus, P. laniger pictus Thomas 1913, Caluromys laniger pyrrhus Thomas 1901, P. laniger senex Thomas 1913] C57

Caluromys lanatus (Illiger 1815) [=Didelphis lanata, Philander lanata; incl. Mallodelphis lanigera hemiura Miranda Ribeiro 1936, Micoureus pulcher Matschie 1917] C57

Caluromys lanatus cicur (Bangs 1898) [=Philander cicur, P. laniger cicur, P. laniger cicus; incl. Micoureus meridensis Matschie 1917] C57

Caluromys lanatus lanatus (Illiger 1815) [incl. Micoureus cahyensis Matschie 1917, Didelphis lanigera Desmarest 1820, Caluromys (Mallodelphis) laniger, Micoureus laniger, Philander laniger, Mallodelphis lanigera modesta Miranda Ribeiro 1936, Ma. lanigera nattereri Miranda Ribeiro 1936] C57

Caluromys lanatus ochropus (Wagner 1842) [=Didelphys ochropus, C. laniger ochropus, Mallodelphis lanigera ochropus; incl. M. lanigera vitalina Miranda Ribeiro 1936] C57

Caluromys lanatus ornatus (Tschudi 1845) [=Didelphys ornata, C. derbianus ornatus, C. laniger ornatus, Philander laniger ornatus; incl. Micoureus bartletti Matschie 1917, P. laniger jivaro Thomas 1913, M. juninensis Matschie 1917] C57

*Caluromys philander philander (Linnaeus 1758) [incl. Philanser cayopollin Burmeister 1856 non Didelphys cayopollin Schreber 1776, Didelphis longicaudata Pelzeln 1883, Caluromys trinitatis leucurus Thomas 1904, D. macrura Pelzeln 1883, C. trinitatis venezuelae Thomas 1903] C57

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[C57] Cabrera, A. 1957. Catalogo de los mamiferos de America del Sur. I (Metatheria—Unguiculata—Carnivora). Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” e Instituto Nacional de Investigacion de Las Ciencias Naturales, Ciencias Zoológicas 4 (1): 1–307.

[G69] Goodwin, G. G. 1969. Mammals from the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, in the American Museum of Natural History. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 141 (1): 1–269, 40 pls.

[JV05] Jansa, S. A., & R. S. Voss. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships of the marsupial genus Hyladelphys based on nuclear gene sequences and morphology. Journal of Mammalogy 86 (5): 853–865.

[M77] Marshall, L. G. 1977. Cladistic analysis of borhyaenoid, dasyuroid, didelphoid, and thylacinid (Marsupialia: Mammalia) affinity. Systematic Zoology 26 (4): 410–425.

[M60] McKenna, M. C. 1960. The Geolabidinae: a new subfamily of early Cenozoic erinaceoid insectivores. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 37 (2): 131–164.

[SFY02] Scott, C. S., R. C. Fox & G. P. Youzwyshyn. 2002. New earliest Tiffanian (late Paleocene) mammals from Cochrane 2, southwestern Alberta, Canada. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 47: 691–704.

[S32] Simpson, G. G. 1932. Some new or little-known mammals from the Colpodon beds of Patagonia. American Museum Novitates 575: 1–12.

[S74] Simpson, G. G. 1974. Notes on Didelphidae (Mammalia, Marsupialia) from the Huayquerian (Pliocene) of Argentina. American Museum Novitates 2559: 1–15.

[V91] Valkenburgh, B. van. 1991. Iterative evolution of hypercarnivory in canids (Mammalia: Carnivora): evolutionary interactions among sympatric predators. Paleobiology 17 (4): 340–362.

[V66] Van Valen, L. 1966. Deltatheridia, a new order of mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 132 (1): 1–126.