Mammals Of The Rio Juruá And The Evolutionary And Ecological Diversification Of Amazonia
Author
PATTON, JAMES L.
Author
DA SILVA, MARIA NAZARETH F.
Author
MALCOLM, JAY R.
text
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History
2000
2000-01-25
2000
244
1
306
http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1206%2F0003-0090(2000)244%3C0001%3AMOTRJA%3E2.0.CO%3B2
journal article
10.1206/0003-0090(2000)244<0001:MOTRJA>2.0.CO;2
0003-0090
5347311
Marmosops impavidus
(Tschudi, 1844)
TYPE
LOCALITY: ‘‘Der mittleren und tiefen Waldregion’’;
interpreted by Cabrera (1957 16) as ‘‘
Montaña
de Vitoc
, cerca
de Chanchamayo
,’’
Departamento de Junín
,
Perú
.
DESCRIPTION: This is a moderatesized murine opossum averaging
279 mm
in total length, 32.6 mm in condyloincisive length of the skull, and
41 g
in weight when fully adult (all four molars fully erupted). The dorsal coloration is rich grayishbrown (Snuff Brown to Saccardo’s Brown; Ridgway 1912). The tail is dark but with a tendency to become paler distally in most specimens Fur of the venter is creamy white along the midline bordered by a distinct but narrow band of graybased, silvertipped hairs which typically constrict the white in the ab
Fig. 43. Strict consensus of four equally minimumlength maximum parsimony trees for cytochromeb haplotypes of Amazonian slender mouse opossums,
Marmosops
. Data are the initial 630 bp of sequence; the tree is rooted by comparison to species of
Marmosa
(data from Patton et al., 1996); branch lengths are proportional to the number of character changes. Specific localities and specimen voucher numbers are listed in table 7. Haplotypes for specimens from the Rio Juruá are identified by heavy lines and bold type; numbers refer to the specific locality as identified in the text and the map, fig. 1. Bold numbers at internal nodes are bootstrap values, based on 1000 iterations; percentages are average Kimura twoparameter distances. Data are given only for nodes with bootstrap values> 50. Tree length = 530 steps; CI = 0.545; RI = 0.669.
dominal and inguinal region (fig. 41, second and third from left); the width of the selfcolored portion in the abdominal region is>
15 mm
. The skull is delicate, with large anterior and posterior palatal vacuities (fig. 45), and the interorbital region bears supraorbital ledges that are only weakly evident in young animals but become increasingly apparent in olderage individuals. In the oldest animals, these ledges are weakly Vshaped, more so than in any other species from the Rio Juruá (fig. 46). The anterior opening of the infraorbital foramen lies dorsal to the anterior root of PM4. The maxillary toothrow averages 13.5 mm; upper M1M4 molar series length averages 6.7 mm. The canine appears proportionately long and narrow, with its width at the base about 55% its length in unworn specimens.
COMPARISONS: Intermediate in overall size between the larger
M
.
noctivagus
and the smaller
M
.
parvidens
(see table 8),
M
.
impavidus
is readily distinguished from these two species by the white venter bordered by a narrow but distinct band of graybased, silvertipped hairs (as in
M
.
parvidens
) instead of a broad white venter lacking the border (as in
M
.
noctivagus
; fig. 41); dorsal coloration is similar to but darker and grayer than that of
M
.
noctivagus
; it lacks clearly developed supraorbital beading (in older individuals) present in
M
.
noctivagus
, but does have weakly developed ledges (fig. 46), as opposed to the lack of any beading in
M
.
parvidens
; relatively long and narrow canines in comparison to those of
M
.
noctivagus
; presence of posterior palatal vacuities, as in
M noctivagus
, but which are lacking in
M
.
parvidens
. Compared with
M
.
neblina
,
M
.
impavidus
differs in its brighter dorsal coloration and broader white ventral area with narrower and less obvious lateral bands of graybased hairs (fig. 41). It has less swollen paroccipital processes, more swollen mastoid processes, somewhat more welldeveloped supraorbital ledges (fig. 46), and somewhat longer and narrower upper canines. All palatal vacuities are larger with the posterior ones placed more distally on the palate (fig 45). The two also differ in those qualitative features noted by Gardner (1989), but cannot be distinguished from each other on the basis of external or cranial dimensions (tables 8 9).
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT: Despite the limited number of individuals, this species was taken at scattered localities in each of the four sample regions along the Rio Juruá (Headwaters, Upper and Lower Central, and Mouth). All individuals were taken in undisturbed or secondgrowth terra firme forest Three were taken at heights of 1.5 to
2 m
the remainder were taken on the ground
None were collected in the canopy platform traps.
REPRODUCTION: All adult females (M1–M4 fully erupted) collected in the Headwaters (locality
1
) and Mouth regions (locality
14
) during the wet season were parous, with clearly evident discolored orange inguinal areas and enlarged nipples, although none had attached young. The
one female
taken during the dry season (November, at Altamira, locality
9
) was a juvenile. These data suggest that
M
.
impavidus
breeds during the wet season, but whether breeding extends into or through the dry season is unknown.
KARYOTYPE: 2n = 14, FN = 24 (fig. 47A) Chromosomal preparations are available from
two specimens
(MNFS 1191 and 1779) All members of this genus apparently have
the same diploid number and similar autosomal and sexchromosome complements, although there appears to be slight differences in centromere position in some of the smaller autosomal elements and in the size of the Ychromosome (Reig et al., 1977; Palma and Yates, 1996; Svartman, 1998) The autosomal complement of
M
.
impavidus
is comprised of four pairs of large meta and submetacentrics and two pairs of small biarmed autosomes, one of which is clearly metacentric and the other subtelocentric. The Xchromosome is a small metacentric, small er than the smallest autosome, and the Y is a somewhat smaller acrocentric.
SPECIMENS EXAMINED (n = 11): (
1
)
2m
, 2f — MNFS 1191, 1235, 1319, 1366; (
6
)
1 m
— JLP 15633; (
9
)
1 m
— JUR 197; (
12
)
1 m
— MNFS 760; (
14
)
2m
, 2f — MNFS 1686, 1757, 1779, JUR 550.