Opossum

For the Australasian marsupials known as "possums", see Phalangeriformes. For other uses, see Opossum (disambiguation).

Didelphidae[2]
Temporal range: Early Miocene – Recent [1]
Virginia opossum, Didelphis virginiana, the only U.S. and Canadian species (mother with nine young)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Superorder: Ameridelphia
Order: Didelphimorphia
Gill, 1872
Family: Didelphidae
J. E. Gray, 1821
Type genus
Didelphis
Linnaeus, 1758
Genera

Several; see text

Diversity
126 species

Opossums (/əˈpɒsəmz/) are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia (/daɪˌdɛlfɪˈmɔːrfiə/) endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 126 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North America in the Great American Interchange following the connection of North and South America in the late Cenozoic.

The Virginia opossum is the only species found in the United States and Canada. It is often simply referred to as an opossum, and in North America it is commonly referred to as a possum[3] (/ˈpɒsəm/; sometimes rendered as 'possum in written form to indicate the dropped "o"). The Australasian arboreal marsupials of suborder Phalangeriformes are also called possums because of their resemblance to opossums, but they belong to a different order. The opossum is typically a nonaggressive animal and almost never carries the virus that causes rabies.[4]

  1. ^ Goin, Francisco; Abello, Alejandra; Bellosi, Eduardo; Kay, Richard; Madden, Richard; Carlini, Alfredo (2007). "Los Metatheria sudamericanos de comienzos del Neógeno (Mioceno Temprano, Edad-mamífero Colhuehuapense). Parte I: Introducción, Didelphimorphia y Sparassodonta". Ameghiniana. 44 (1): 29–71.
  2. ^ Gardner, A. (2005). Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 3–18. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  3. ^ "Opossums". National Geographic. Archived from the original on February 21, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  4. ^ "Rabies: A Forgotten Killer Greatest Risk from Wildlife, Especially Bats" (PDF). CDC.