A new species of Philander Brisson, 1762 (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae)

FLORES, D. A.; BARQUEZ R.M.; DÍAZ, M. M.

MAMMALIAN BIOLOGY

ELSEVIER GMBH

Año: 2008 p. 14 - 24

1616-5047

A new species of Philander, known from two localities in Bolivia and one in Peru, is described. The new species is externally similar to sympatric populations of P. opossum, but both have several differences, such as ventral pelage color, nasal morphology, condition of the zygomatic arches, and rostral tympanic process of the petrosal. Morphometric differences with other taxa in the genus are also shown. Based on the few localities known at present, it is probable that the new taxon has a wide geographic range in Amazonian forest. The description of another species of Philander reflects the complexity of the genus, and the fact that the holotype corresponds to a museum specimen demonstrates one more time the importance of the study of the systematic collections. We describe external, dental, and cranial morphology, and we offer morphometric data as well as comparisons with other species in the genus.