Lestodelphys halli: new information on a poorly known argentine marsupial.

BIRNEY, ELMER; MONJEAU, JORGE ADRIAN; PHILLIPS, CARLETON J.; SIKES, ROBERT S.; KIM, IKSOO

MASTOZOOLOGíA NEOTROPICAL

UNIDAD DE ZOOLOGÍA Y ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL, INSTITUTO ARGENTINO DE INVESTIGACIÓN DE LAS ZONAS ARIDAS, CRICYT, CONICET

Lugar: Mendoza; Año: 1996 vol. 3 p. 171 - 181

0327-9383

Lestodelphys halli is a small, terrestrial didelphid marsupial known only from a few widely scattered, semidesert localities from Mendoza south to Santa Cruz in Argentina. We have updated the distribution map based on 17 traditional specimens and 31 cataloged and more than 15 uncataloged individuals and lots of osteological remains recovered from owl pellets. Images taken from a videotape of a captive L. halli document the killing and partial consumption of a mouse, strongly supporting Thomas´ (1921) hypothesis that the species is predaceous. The karyotype consists of 14 chromosomes and is generally similar to that of other 2N = 14 marsupials. Study of a 281-base pair region of the cytochrome b gene compared to the same region in other South American didelphids suggests that Lestodelphys is most closely related to Thylamys, another small South American didelphid that occurs in southern Argentina, but does not elucidate the relationship of this clade to other genera previously hyppthesized to be closely related to Lestodelphys.