DIFERENCIAS MORFOLOGICAS DE CARANEO Y DENTICION EN Didelphis albiventris YD. marsupialis (DIDELPHIMORPHIA: DIDELPHIDAE) DE ARGENTINA Y BOLIVIA

FLORES, D.A.; ABDALA, F.

COMUNICACOES DO MUSEU DE CIENCIAS E TECNOLOGIA DA PUCRS. SERIE ZOOLOGIA

EDIPUCRS

Año: 2001 vol. 14 p. 101 - 110

0104-6950

The comparative study of the skull and the dentition of Didelphis albiventrisand D. marsupia/is showed a conspicuous morphological homogeneity between thesespecies. Only five features in the skull and one in the dentition were identified asmorphological diflhrences. Among the skull features, differences included the shapeof the palatine process of the premaxilla, the development of the supraorbital andsuborbital procesS!!s, and the shape of the internal acoustic meatus and petrosal inferiorsulcus. The difference in the dentition was the shape of the second upperpremolar. Individual variation for the two species in the position and outline of cranialsutures and in the presence and position of the stylar cusps C in the upper molars arealso di scussed. The variation of the stylar cusp C is especially interesting, consideringthe late origin of ;uch cusps in basal marsupials as well as the fact that these cuspsappear independe 1tly in different marsupial lineages.