Massoia's lutrine opossum (''Lutreolina massoia'') is a species of

opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North ...

native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Taxonomy

It was formerly considered a disjunct population of the

lutrine opossum ''Lutreolina'' is a genus of opossum found in South America. Both extant species in this genus are known as lutrine opossums. They have an otter-like body plan and occasionally semiaquatic tendencies, hence the genus name ''Lutreolina'', which ...

(''L. crassicaudata''), but a 2014 study determined it to be a distinct species and described it as such. It is possible that climatic changes in the past led to an expansion of vegetation in the

Dry Chaco The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Gr ...

, allowing the ancestral ''Lutreolina'' to cross it, with the later aridification of the Chaco isolating both species and leading to their divergence. This species was named after Argentine zoologist

Elio Massoia Elio is an Italian male given name. Origin A name of dual origin, Elio is primarily a revival of it, Elio, label=none (Helios), the Greek god of the Sun. it, Elio, label=none derives, through the Latin ''Helius'', from the Ancient Greek Ἥ ...

, who made significant contributions to the knowledge of South American mammal diversity, and was among the first researchers to notice the distinctiveness of the ''Lutreolina'' populations of the

Yungas The Yungas (Aymara ''yunka'' warm or temperate Andes or earth, Quechua ''yunka'' warm area on the slopes of the Andes) is a bioregion of a narrow band of forest along the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains from Peru and Bolivia, and extends into ...

Distribution

It ranges from south-central

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

south to northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, where it is restricted to the

region just east of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. It has a different habitat from ''L. crassicaudata'', being found primarily in lowland

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

grasslands. It seems to primarily use areas with dense ground cover and aquatic environments.

Description

''L. massoia'' is smaller in size than ''L. crassicaudata'', and differs in the size and shape of the skull, as well as in the dentition.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16335777 Opossums Marsupials of South America Mammals of Argentina Mammals of Bolivia Mammals described in 2014 Southern Andean Yungas