biology

List of didelphimorphs

List of didelphimorphs is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of didelphimorphs rather than just read about it. In short: Didelphimorphia is an order of marsupial mammals. Members of this order are called didelphimorphs, or opossums.

Key takeaways

List of didelphimorphs belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of didelphimorphs to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of didelphimorphs from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Didelphimorphia is an order of marsupial mammals. Members of this order are called didelphimorphs, or opossums. They are primarily found in South America, though some are found in Central America and Mexico and one, the Virginia opossum, ranges into the United States and Canada. They have a variety of sizes, shapes, and fur patterns, and range in size from the 6 cm (2 in) (plus 9 cm (4 in) tail) Kalinowski's mouse opossum to the 55 cm (22 in) (plus 54 cm (21 in) tail) Virginia opossum. Didelphimorphs are primarily found in forests, as well as savannas, shrublands, and grasslands. Almost no population estimates have been made for didelphimorph species, though the one-striped opossum is classified as Critically Endangered with a population of less than ten, Handley's slender opossum is also critically endangered, and the red-bellied gracile opossum is extinct, having last been seen in 1962. The 92 extant species of Didelphimorphia are grouped into a single family, Didelphidae, which is divided into four subfamilies: Caluromyinae, containing four species in two genera; Glironiinae, containing a single species; Hyladelphinae, also with a single species; and Didelphinae, containing 86 species split between 14 genera. Over one hundred extinct Didelphimorph species have been discovered, though due to ongoing research and discoveries the exact number and categorization is not fixed.

Conventions

The author citation for the species or genus is given after the scientific name; parentheses around the author citation indicate that this was not the original taxonomic placement. Conservation status codes listed follow the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Range maps are provided wherever possible; if a range map is not available, a description of the didelphimorph's range is provided. Ranges are based on the IUCN Red List for that species unless otherwise noted. All extinct species or subspecies listed alongside extant species went extinct after 1500 CE, and are indicated by a dagger symbol "†".

Classification

The order Didelphimorphia consists of one family, Didelphidae, which is divided into the subfamilies Caluromyinae, Glironiinae, Hyladelphinae, and Didelphinae. Caluromyinae contains 4 species in 2 genera, Glironiinae and Hyladelphinae each contain a single species, and Didelphinae contains 86 extant species in 14 genera, as well as the extinct red-bellied gracile opossum, which was last seen in 1962. Many of these species are further subdivided into subspecies. This does not include hybrid species or extinct prehistoric species. Family Didelphidae

Subfamily Caluromyinae Genus Caluromys (woolly opossums): three species Genus Caluromysiops (black-shouldered opossum): one species Subfamily Didelphinae Genus Chacodelphys (Chacoan pygmy opossum): one species Genus Chironectes (water opossum): one species Genus Cryptonanus (slender mouse opossums): five species (one extinct) Genus Didelphis (large American opossums): six species Genus Gracilinanus (gracile opossums): six species Genus Lestodelphys (Patagonian opossum): one species Genus Lutreolina (lutrine opossums): two species Genus Marmosa (mouse opossums): fifteen species Genus Marmosops (slender opossums): seventeen species Genus Metachirus: (brown four-eyed opossums): one species Genus Monodelphis (short-tailed opossums): seventeen species Genus Philander (gray and black four-eyed opossums): five species Genus Thylamys (fat-tailed mouse opossums): nine species Genus Tlacuatzin (gray mouse opossums): one species Subfamily Glironiinae Genus Glironia (bushy-tailed opossum): one species Subfamily Hyladelphinae Genus Hyladelphys (Kalinowski's mouse opossum): one species

Didelphimorphs The following classification is based on the taxonomy described by Mammal Species of the World (2005), with augmentation by generally accepted proposals made since using molecular phylogenetic analysis, as supported by both the IUCN and the American Society of Mammalogists.

Subfamily Caluromyinae

Subfamily Didelphinae

Subfamily Glironiinae

Subfamily Hyladelphinae

References

Sources

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of didelphimorphs

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of didelphimorphs claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of didelphimorphs before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of didelphimorphs ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of didelphimorphs

In research: List of didelphimorphs appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of didelphimorphs in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of didelphimorphs is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of animal species, Lists of marsupial mammals, Opossums, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of didelphimorphs outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of didelphimorphs in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of didelphimorphs means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of didelphimorphs out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of didelphimorphs in simple terms?

Didelphimorphia is an order of marsupial mammals. Members of this order are called didelphimorphs, or opossums.

Why does List of didelphimorphs matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of didelphimorphs?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of didelphimorphs.