Yellow-sided opossum
| Yellow-sided opossum | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Didelphimorphia |
| Family: | Didelphidae |
| Genus: | Monodelphis |
| Species: | M. dimidiata
|
| Binomial name | |
| Monodelphis dimidiata (Wagner, 1847)
| |
| Yellow-sided opossum range | |
The yellow-sided opossum (Monodelphis dimidiata) is an opossum species from South America found in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. They have grey fur on their dorsal side with orangish fur on the lateral side that continues down to the feet. It is one of the few semelparous mammals in the word, as it breeds only once during its short anual life cycle. Preserving native grasslands is important for their conservation. They show marked sexual dimorphism: adult males are much larger (100-150 g versus 30-70 g in females) and show large and exposed canine teeth.