🐙 Cell & Organismal Biology
Mexican Mouse Opossum
The Mexican mouse opossum (Marmosa mexicana) is a small, tree-dwelling marsupial of Mexican and Central American forests. It is mouse-sized with a long, prehensile tail.
The Mexican mouse opossum (Marmosa mexicana) is a small, tree-dwelling marsupial of Mexican and Central American forests. It is mouse-sized with a long, prehensile tail.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Mexican Mouse Opossum in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Mammals lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
No Pouch, Many Young
Mouse opossums lack a true pouch. The young attach to the mother's nipples as she moves about and can number a dozen or more. They are weaned in a few months.
Night-Time Foragers
The animal eats insects, fruit, small vertebrates and nectar, climbing in the understory. Its large eyes and ears suit nocturnal life.
Seed Dispersal
By eating fruit, mouse opossums disperse seeds in tropical forests. See Silky Shrew Opossum.
Mexican Mouse Opossum at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Marmosa mexicana |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Didelphimorphia |
| Family | Didelphidae |
| Field Guide group | Mammals: Marsupialia (Metatherians) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Mouse-sized tree climber with a black mask around large eyes and a long prehensile tail; females have no pouch. |
| IUCN Red List status | Least Concern (LC), assessed 2016 |
| Order | Didelphimorphia |
| Pouch | None |
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