Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this page by Philip Myers, Ulf Drechsel, Karina Atkinson, Helen Pheasey and Alberto Esquivel and are used with their permission.
Aprecio mucho tu generoso contribución Ulf, mil gracias!
GREY SHORT-TAILED OPOSSUM Monodelphis domestica
Smith P 2008 - FAUNA Paraguay Handbook of the Mammals of Paraguay Number 10 Grey Short-tailed Opossum Monodelphis domestica
Pdf file 2.86mb
Shrew-like in appearance this is the most commonly-ecountered member of the primitive Monodelphids or Short-tailed Opossums. They are diurnal in behaviour and mainly terrestrial habits, though they sleep in hollowed-out tree trunks. They are voracious insect predators and are analagous to certain small mouse-like Dasyurid marsupials in Australia in their ecological niche.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - (FPMAM29PH) Adult, Departamento Amambay (Philip Myers undated).
FIGURE 2 -  (FPMAM438PH) Adult, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Helen Pheasey December 2011 - Para La Tierra)
FIGURE 3 -  (FPMAM438PH) Adult male specimen lateral view, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Karina Atkinson July 2010 - Para La Tierra)
FIGURE 4 -  (FPMAM439PH) Same specimen dorsal view (Karina Atkinson July 2010 - Para La Tierra).
FIGURE 5 -  (FPMAM440PH) Adult male specimen ventral view (Karina Atkinson July 2010 - Para La Tierra).
FIGURE 6 -  (FPMAM441PH) Adult male specimen head lateral (Karina Atkinson July 2010 - Para La Tierra).
FIGURE 7 -  (FPMAM442PH) Adult male specimen forefoot (Karina Atkinson July 2010 - Para La Tierra).
FIGURE 8 -  (FPMAM443PH) Adult male specimen hind foot upperside (Karina Atkinson July 2010 - Para La Tierra).
FIGURE 9 -  (FPMAM444PH) Adult male specimen hind foot underside (Karina Atkinson July 2010 - Para La Tierra).
FIGURE 10 -  (FPMAM445PH) Adult male specimen tail (Karina Atkinson July 2010 - Para La Tierra).
FIGURE 11 - (FPMAM27PH) Juvenile, Mbaracayú Forest Reserve, Departamento Canindeyú (Alberto Esquivel undated).
FIGURE 12 - (FPMAM28PH) Same individual (Alberto Esquivel undated).
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GREY SHORT-TAILED OPOSSUM Monodelphis domestica 
DORSAL (FPMAM322PH); VENTRAL (FPMAM323PH); LATERAL (FPMAM324PH)
Skulls courtesy of Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org
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DORSAL
VENTRAL

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LATERAL

LATERAL
CLICK THE HANDBOOK LINK ABOVE TO DOWNLOAD OTHER PDFS OF THE SPECIES ACCOUNTS FOR THE FAUNA PARAGUAY HANDBOOK OF PARAGUAYAN MAMMALS VOLUME 1: DIDELPHIMORPHIA.
LINKS TO DOWNLOADABLE OPEN ACCESS REFERENCES USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THE FAUNA PARAGUAY HANDBOOK OF THE MAMMALS OF PARAGUAY SPECIES ACCOUNT FOR THIS SPECIES:

Macrini TE 2004 - Monodelphis domestica - Mammalian Species 760: p1-8.
Myers P, Espinosa R, Parr CS, Jones T, Hammond GS, Dewey A 2006 - The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed December 2007.