One-striped opossum

The single stripe - shrew opossum ( Monodelphis unistriata ), also known as strip spitzmaul opossum or Einstreifenkurzschwanzopossum, one probably extinct marsupial from the kind of shrew opossums is ( Monodelphis ). She comes and occurred in Brazil and Argentina.

Features

Dimensions are only from the holotype. He has a head-body length of 140 mm and a tail length of about 60 mm. The top is stainless gray. The center back is characterized by a single maroon stripe. The flanks, legs and underside are yellowish -orange. The tail has two colors; brownish yellow at the top and at the bottom.

Habitat and behavior

The single stripe - shrew opossum was predominantly crepuscular. She sought her food on the floor. About habitat and behavior is not known.

Status and systematics

The single stripe Shrew opossum is known only from two specimens collected in 1821 and 1899. The holotype is a male, which was captured on 11 March 1821 by Johann Natterer in Itararé in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is located in the Natural History Museum in Vienna. The second specimen was collected on April 9, 1899 by Luis Boccard in the province of Misiones in Argentina and is preserved in the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales in Buenos Aires. Johann Andreas Wagner described the taxon in 1842 as Didelphys unistriata. Oldfield Thomas in 1888 examined the type specimen and placed the species in the genus Peramys. The classification in the current genus Monodelphis comes from Ángel Cabrera and José Yepes from the year 1940. IUCN lists the single stripe - shrew opossum in the category of " critically endangered ( possibly extinct ) ". The main reason for the disappearance of the species was probably the destruction of the habitat.