Monodelphis (Mygalodelphys) handleyi Solari, 2007

Voss, Robert S., Fleck, David W. & Jansa, Sharon A., 2019, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 3: Marsupials (Didelphimorphia), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2019 (432), pp. 1-89 : 35-36

Monodelphis (Mygalodelphys) handleyi Solari, 2007

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL = 7): Jenaro Herrera (AMNH 276698, 276704, 276709; MUSM 15991, 23808–23810).

OTHER INTERFLUVIAL RECORDS: None.

IDENTIFICATION: Our voucher material was examined by Solari (2007) and served as the basis for his description of the species, which remains known only from Jenaro Herrera. Among other

congeners, Monodelphis handleyi most closely resembles M. ronaldi (described by Solari, 2004), formerly known only from the holotype collected at Pakitza (11°56′S, 71°17′W) in Madre de Dios department, about 800 km southeast of Jenaro Herrera. Solari (2007) compared M. handleyi with M. ronaldi , which, among other differences, is substantially larger, but recently collected new material of M. ronaldi should allow a more complete differential diagnosis of these apparently closely related species (D. Ruelas, personal commun.). With the exception of a single juvenile female (AMNH 276704), all specimens of M. handleyi collected to date are male.

Several aspects of Solari’s (2007) original description merit comment. The ventral pelage was described as entirely self-cream from chin to anus with a somewhat paler streak along the midline, but in one topotypical skin (MUSM 23810) most of the ventral fur is distinctly brownish and the hairs have pale-gray bases except on the center of the chest and upper abdomen, which is marked by a broad self-cream blaze. Whereas the central hair of each caudalscale triplet was described as “thicker (petiolate) than the lateral hairs” ( Solari, 2007: 324), the scale triplets we examined on several specimens had subequal lateral and central hairs. Both of the adult male skulls at hand (AMNH 276709, MUSM 23809) have distinct sagittal crests, which are also present but less distinct on all three subadults (AMNH 276698; MUSM 23808, 23810). The upper and lower canines lack accessory cusps in both sexes.

Monodelphis handleyi is much the larger of the two local members of the subgenus Mygalodelphys . Although only two fully adult specimens of M. peruviana from the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve are available for comparisons, measurements of other material referable to M. peruviana suggest that these species have nonoverlapping craniodental measurements (tables 11, 12). Additionally, several qualitative differences inferred from our small samples merit evaluation when more specimens of both species become available: (1) The lacrimal foramina are concealed from lateral view inside the anterior margin of the orbit in M. handleyi , whereas these foramina are laterally exposed just anterior to the orbit in M. peruviana . (2) Most subadult and adult specimens of M. handleyi have a sagittal crest, but the left and right temporalis scars are separated and a sagittal crest is absent in all examined specimens of M. peruviana . (3) The upper and lower canines lack accessory cusps in both sexes of M. handleyi , whereas both upper and lower canines have small but distinct accessory cusps in female specimens of M. peruviana .

ETHNOBIOLOGY: The Matses do not distinguish this species from other short-tailed opossums (all known as yama; see the account for Monodelphis , above) and therefore have no particular beliefs about it.

MATSES NATURAL HISTORY: The Matses have no definite knowledge of this species.

REMARKS: Of the six specimens for which we have capture information, five were taken in pitfalls along a single trapline flanked by swampy primary forest. The sixth specimen was taken in a pitfall trapline sited in a small patch of whitesand forest.