Open AccessSpecies diversity in the Monodelphis brevicaudata complex (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) inferred from molecular and morphological data, with the description of a new species
Author(s) -
PAVAN SILVIA ELIZA,
ROSSI ROGERIO VIEIRA,
SCHNEIDER HORACIO
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
zoological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.148
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1096-3642
pISSN - 0024-4082
DOI - 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00791.x
Subject(s) - monodelphis domestica , biology , opossum , zoology , systematics , evolutionary biology , taxonomy (biology) , ecology
The Monodelphis brevicaudata complex comprises the short‐tailed opossum M. brevicaudata and allied forms that inhabit northern and middle South America. We studied the systematics of this complex through a combination of molecular (cytochrome b and 16S rDNA) and morphological (external and craniodental) characters. Our evidence shows that M. brevicaudata as currently recognized comprises three different species: M. brevicaudata ; Monodelphis touan , resurrected from the synonymy of M. brevicaudata ; and a new species described here. Other species formally recognized in the M. brevicaudata complex include Monodelphis palliolata , Monodelphis glirina , Monodelphis maraxina , Monodelphis domestica , and two additional forms for which formal descriptions are still missing. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2012, 165 , 190–223.