TY - JOUR
T1 - New morphological data and phylogenetic position of the rare short-tailed opossum Monodelphis ronaldi (Didelphimorphia
T2 - Didelphidae) with new records
AU - Ruelas, Dennisse
AU - Pacheco, Víctor
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Deutsche Gesellschaft für Säugetierkunde.
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - Monodelphis ronaldi is a short-tailed opossum currently known only by the holotype captured in Madre de Dios, Peru. The relationships of this species with other congeners are unknown, although it has been hypothesized to belong to the subgenus Mygalodelphys. Here, we report six additional specimens of M. ronaldi from the Alto Purús, Ucayali department, Peru, extend the range of the species about 240 km eastward, examine ontogenetic variation, and analyze its phylogenetic relationships using sequences of the mitochondrial Cytochrome-b gene. Our analyses recovered M. ronaldi as the sister species of M. handleyi, confirming its position within the subgenus Mygalodelphys. The genetic distance between them was almost 6%, besides several morphological traits differentiating both species. However, some morphological traits previously proposed as diagnostic were found to vary with age, so an emended diagnosis for M. ronaldi is provided. Additionally, we include new information about the habitat, geographic range, and natural history of this elusive species.
AB - Monodelphis ronaldi is a short-tailed opossum currently known only by the holotype captured in Madre de Dios, Peru. The relationships of this species with other congeners are unknown, although it has been hypothesized to belong to the subgenus Mygalodelphys. Here, we report six additional specimens of M. ronaldi from the Alto Purús, Ucayali department, Peru, extend the range of the species about 240 km eastward, examine ontogenetic variation, and analyze its phylogenetic relationships using sequences of the mitochondrial Cytochrome-b gene. Our analyses recovered M. ronaldi as the sister species of M. handleyi, confirming its position within the subgenus Mygalodelphys. The genetic distance between them was almost 6%, besides several morphological traits differentiating both species. However, some morphological traits previously proposed as diagnostic were found to vary with age, so an emended diagnosis for M. ronaldi is provided. Additionally, we include new information about the habitat, geographic range, and natural history of this elusive species.
KW - Distribution
KW - Habitat
KW - Molecular analyses
KW - Morphology
KW - Mygalodelphys
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123232722&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s42991-021-00219-x
DO - 10.1007/s42991-021-00219-x
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:85123232722
VL - 102
SP - 189
EP - 204
JO - Mammalian Biology
JF - Mammalian Biology
SN - 1616-5047
IS - 1
ER -