Tyler's mouse opossum[1] | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
Order: | Didelphimorphia |
Family: | Didelphidae |
Genus: | Marmosa |
Subgenus: | Marmosa |
Species: | M. tyleriana
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Binomial name | |
Marmosa tyleriana Tate, 1931
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Tyler's mouse opossum range |
Tyler's mouse opossum (Marmosa tyleriana) is a South American marsupial of the family Didelphidae.[2] It lives in rainforests of the Guiana Highlands of southern Venezuela at elevations between 1300 and 2200 m.[1] The species has only been found on three isolated tepuis (Auyantepui, Marahuaca and Sarisariñama).[1] All three of these locations are in protected areas (Canaima, Duida-Marahuaca and Jaua-Sarisariñama national parks).
The Latin species name refers to the habitat in which the opossum was first found, a Tyleria forest. In turn, both the genus Tyleria and the opossum's common name refer to Sidney F. Tyler, an American historian and photographer who helped finance the 1928-29 expedition of the American Museum of Natural History to the headwaters of the Orinoco, during which the opossum was discovered.[3]