Gardner's short-tailed opossum (''Monodelphis gardneri'') is a

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

from

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 ...

. It was named in 2012 by Sergio Solari, Víctor Pacheco, Elena Vivar and Louise H. Emmons. They named it after Dr. Alfred L. Gardner who took the first specimen of this species.

Description

Collected specimen range from 70–100 mm in head-and-body length. The fur has a Prout Brown to Mummy Brown colour with three distinctive black stripes on its back, reaching from between the ears to the base of the tail. The tail is slightly shorter than half of the head-and-body length. This species, although marsupial, has no pouch for its young.

Habitat and ecology

Gardner's short-tailed opossum inhabits the montane forests on the eastern slopes of the

Andes Mountains The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. It was found in dense to semi-open forests or even at the edge between forest and an open

sphagnum ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...

bog in thickets of dense brush and bamboo. It probably is terrestrial and does not climb trees. Other members of the genus ''Monodelphis'' are

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutri ...

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

, feeding on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21314200 Opossums Marsupials of South America Species described in 2012 Mammals of Peru Endemic fauna of Peru