science

Northern four-eyed opossum

Northern four-eyed opossum is a science 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 Northern four-eyed opossum rather than just read about it. In short: The northern four-eyed opossum (Philander vossi) is a species of opossum from Central America. Taxonomy This species was originally described by the American mammalogist Joel Asaph Allen in 1901 under the name Metachirus fuscogriseus pallidus; fuscogriseus is itself a synonym of Philander melanurus.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The northern four-eyed opossum (Philander vossi) is a species of opossum from Central America.

Taxonomy This species was originally described by the American mammalogist Joel Asaph Allen in 1901 under the name Metachirus fuscogriseus pallidus; fuscogriseus is itself a synonym of Philander melanurus. It would later be elevated to species by German zoologist Paul Matschie in 1916, before being considered a subspecies of Philander opossum again in 1924 by Gerrit Smith Miller, Jr. It would remain at subspecific status until 2018, when an analysis of the cytochrome b, nucDNA, and physical characteristics warranted species status again. In 2020 it was found that the name pallidus was preoccupied by a subspecies of Derby's woolly opossum. The subspecies, today Caluromys derbianus pallidus, was originally described as Philander laniger pallidus, and was described two years before pallidus, in 1899. This makes the name pallidus preoccupied, so in 2020 Alfred L. Gardner and José Ramírez-Pulido decided to make a new species name for this taxa, choosing Philander vossi. P. vossi is the sister species to the black four-eyed opossum (P. nigratus). This species is recognized by the American Society of Mammalogists, but not by the IUCN, which recognizes neither P. pallidus nor P. vossi.

Etymology This species is named after the American mammalogist Robert S. Voss, a prolific mammalogist with an interest in neotropical species such as didelphids and rodents. Voss had revalidated this species in 2018 in a paper that also described one of its congeners as a new species and showed the phylogeny of much of this group.

Description

These species are relatively light-furred for a Philander, with gray colors throughout the back, neck, base of the tail, and outer side of the limbs. The head can have some gray colors but tends to be darker, closer to black. The possum has two black eyes, despite its common name. The undersides are a yellowish color, extending onto the bottom of the jaw, the cheeks, and in front of the ears. It has two similarly yellowish-creamy-colored spots above each eye, giving it the name "four-eyed opossum". The tail is hairless and black for roughly the basal half its length, and white for the distal half. The feet are pink. When compared to P. melanurus, the closest species genetically and geographically, it tends to be lighter and have more white on the tail. This species ranges from 475 mm (18.7 in) to 627 mm (24.7 in), with the tail making up 240 mm (9.4 in) to 315 mm (12.4 in) of this length.

Range This species is currently known only from Belize, El Salvador, and southern Mexico, but is almost certainly also in Guatemala. It may also occur in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica but more surveying is needed in these regions. As of 2024, no research has been done to find the range border of this species and Philander melanurus, but data from the citizen science website iNaturalist indicates it is around the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border. The holotype is from the city of Orizaba in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is the northernmost member of the genus Philander.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Northern four-eyed opossum

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Northern four-eyed opossum claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 Northern four-eyed opossum 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 Northern four-eyed opossum 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 Northern four-eyed opossum

In research: Northern four-eyed opossum appears in science 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 Northern four-eyed opossum 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: Northern four-eyed opossum is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Mammals described in 2020, Mammals of Mexico, Marsupials of Central America, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Northern four-eyed opossum 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 Northern four-eyed opossum in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Northern four-eyed opossum 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.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Northern four-eyed opossum in simple terms?

The northern four-eyed opossum (Philander vossi) is a species of opossum from Central America. Taxonomy This species was originally described by the American mammalogist Joel Asaph Allen in 1901 under the name Metachirus fuscogriseus pallidus; fuscogriseus is itself a synonym of Philander melanurus.

Why does Northern four-eyed opossum matter?

Because it connects several science 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 Northern four-eyed opossum?

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 Northern four-eyed opossum.