Monodelphis (Monodelphis) domestica (Wagner, 1842)

Voss, Robert S., 2022, An Annotated Checklist Of Recent Opossums (Mammalia: Didelphidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2022 (455), pp. 1-77 : 24

Monodelphis (Monodelphis) domestica

(Wagner, 1842)

TYPE MATERIAL AND TYPE LOCALITY: This species was based on an unknown number of specimens collected by Johann Natterer at “Cuyaba” (= Cuiabá: 15.58° S, 56.08° W; ca. 200 m), Mato Grosso state, Brazil. No type was designated in the original description, and none to my knowledge has been designated subsequently, so Natterer’s entire series must be considered syntypes. I have seen nine such specimens in Vienna ( NMW B-2604–2608, -2611, -2612, -2617, -2625) plus two that were exchanged: one to London ( BMNH 87.10.25.1) and another to Berlin ( ZMB 3195 ). Additionally , Thomas (1888a: 359) mentioned “co-types” in Munich , so Wagner’s original material has been widely dispersed. Of the specimens I have personally examined, BMNH 87.10 .25.1, an adult female, is the best preserved and retains Natterer’s original label with the notation “Cuyaba, Mto. Grosso.” However, no purpose is served by designating a lectotype at this time .

SYNONYMS: concolor Gervais, 1856.

DISTRIBUTION: Monodelphis domestica occurs throughout the Arid Diagonal of open vegetation (Chaco, Cerrado, and Caatinga) that extends from eastern Bolivia, northwestern Argentina, and western Paraguay across central Brazil to Ceará and Pernambuco (Pine and Handley, 2008: map 40), and it is also known from the Pantanal ( Antunes et al., 2021).

REMARKS: Phylogenetic analyses of mtDNA sequence data have shown that Monodelphis domestica consists of two robustly supported haplogroups, one in the Chaco, Cerrado, and Pantanal and another in the Caatinga ( Caramaschi et al., 2011); according to Pavan et al. (2014), these haplogroups differ, on average, by about 5% (uncorrected) at the cytochrome b locus.