Derby's woolly opossum (''Caluromys derbianus''), or the Central American woolly opossum, is an

opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 126 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North A ...

found in deciduous and moist evergreen forests of

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, from southern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

to western

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. It was first described by English naturalist

George Robert Waterhouse George Robert Waterhouse (6 March 1810 – 21 January 1888) was an English natural history, naturalist. He was a keeper at the department of geology and later curator of the Zoological Society of London's museum. Early life George was born ...

, and named in honor of Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. Derby's woolly opossum is the largest in its genus, with a total length of and weight between . The coat is brown and the underside white-buff to golden-brown. The opossum is

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

(active mainly at night),

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

(tree-living) and solitary. Diet consists of fruits, nectar, small

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s and

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

s. The time when breeding takes place varies geographically. The litter size ranges from one to six. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

classifies this opossum as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

Taxonomy and etymology

Derby's woolly opossum is one of the three members of '' Caluromys'', and is placed in the family Didelphidae. It was first described by English naturalist

as ''Didelphis derbianus'' in 1841. He was named in honor of Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby, to whose museum the specimen used for the description belonged. It was given its present binomial name, ''Caluromys derbianus'', by American zoologist

Joel Asaph Allen Joel Asaph Allen (July 19, 1838 – August 29, 1921) was an American zoology, zoologist, mammalogy, mammalogist, and ornithology, ornithologist. He became the first president of the American Ornithologists' Union, the first curator of birds and ma ...

in 1900. A 1955 revision of marsupial phylogeny grouped ''Caluromys'', '' Caluromysiops'', '' Dromiciops'' (monito del monte) and '' Glironia'' (bushy-tailed opossum) under a single subfamily, Microbiotheriinae, noting the dental similarities among these. A 1977 study argued that these similarities are the result of

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last comm ...

, and placed ''Caluromys'', ''Caluromysiops'' and ''Glironia'' in a new subfamily, Caluromyinae. In another similar revision, the bushy-tailed opossum was placed in its own subfamily, Glironiinae. The following seven subspecies are recognized: *''C. d. aztecus'' (

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, 1913): Occurs in

. *''C. d. canus'' ( Matschie, 1917): Occurs in

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. *''C. d. centralis'' ( Hollister, 1914): Occurs in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. *''C. d. derbianus'' (Waterhouse, 1841): Occurs in

and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. *''C. d. fervidus'' (Thomas, 1913): Occurs in the lowlands of north-central

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and northern

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. *''C. d. nauticus'' (Thomas, 1913): Occurs in Gobernadora Island, off the coast of Panama. *''C. d. pallidus'' (Thomas, 1899): Occurs in Panama. The

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

below, based on a 2016 study, shows the

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

relationships of Derby's woolly opossum.

Description

Caluromys derbianus 3d scan Natural History Museum University of Pisa C 104

Derby's woolly opossum is the largest in its genus, with a total length of and weight between . It is characterized by white to pink ears, lightly colored limbs, a brown coat (lighter than that of the brown-eared woolly opossum), white-buff to golden-brown underside, and the prehensile tail (tail that can be used to grab objects) that accounts for 58 to 67 percent of the total length. A dark streak runs from along the midline of the nose up to the

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

. Coat color varies geographically. The tail is partially naked, as in the bare-tailed woolly opossum. Like others in ''Caluromys'', it has a pouch. The ears measure about and the hindfeet . Claws are present in all the five digits of the forefeet and two of either hindfoot. The

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiology ...

is . The eyes glow red on exposure to light.

Ecology and behavior

Derby's woolly opossum is

(active mainly at night), solitary, and spends most of the day in nests made of dead leaves in cavities in the upper reaches of trees. Studies show that activity levels may increase if food is scarce, and decrease on exposure to light. The animal is an efficient climber, and the tail assists in grasping branches. It shows remarkable agility in moving among vines and branches. When disturbed, it might attack defensively by biting; it can produce squeals when distressed. Predators include

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted Felidae, wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, Central and South America, ...

Diet

Diet comprises fruits of pepper vines and ''

Cecropia ''Cecropia'' is a Neotropical genus consisting of 61 recognized species with a highly distinctive lineage of dioecious trees. The genus consists of pioneer trees in the more or less humid parts of the Neotropics, with the majority of the speci ...

'' species, nectar of the balsa tree, '' Mabea occidentalis'' and '' Trichanthera gigantea'', small

s and

s. After feeding, the opossum will lick the forepaws and use them to clean its face; they can also be used to clean the flanks, underbelly and the portion of the tail nearer to the tip.

Reproduction

Both sexes become

sexually mature Sexual maturity is the capability of an organism to reproduce. In humans, it is related to both puberty and adulthood. ''Puberty'' is the biological process of sexual maturation, while ''adulthood'', the condition of being socially recognized as ...

by seven to nine months. The

estrus cycle The estrous cycle (, originally ) is a set of recurring physiological changes induced by reproductive hormones in females of mammalian subclass Theria. Estrous cycles start after sexual maturity in females and are interrupted by anestrous phases ...

is nearly 28 days long. The time when breeding takes place varies geographically – it takes place during the dry season in Panama (late January or early February) and probably throughout the year in Nicaragua. Males have been observed pursuing the female before copulation occurs. The litter size ranges from one to six. The lifespan is not known for sure; one individual in New York Zoological Park lived for five years and three months.

Distribution and status

Derby's woolly opossum inhabits deciduous and moist evergreen forests up to an altitude of . The range extends from

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

in southern Mexico southward into South America to western Ecuador and

Cauca River The Cauca River () is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental and Central cordilleras. From its headwaters in southwestern Colombia near the city of Popayán, it joins the Magdalena River near Magangué in Bolívar Department, an ...

valley in Colombia. The

classifies it as

, given its presumably large numbers. Earlier, it used to be targeted for its fur. Populations in Ecuador and Mexico, however, are threatened by deforestation.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q194243 Opossums Marsupials of North America Marsupials of Central America Mammals of the Caribbean Marsupials of Colombia Vertebrates of Costa Rica Marsupials of Ecuador Vertebrates of Guatemala Vertebrates of Honduras Mammals of Mexico Vertebrates of Nicaragua Vertebrates of Panama Mammals described in 1841 Taxa named by George Robert Waterhouse Taxonomy articles created by Polbot