psy: Opossum

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

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 America in the Great American Interchange following the connection of North and South America in the late Cenozoic. The Virginia opossum is the only species found in the United States and Canada. It is often simply referred to as an opossum; in North America, it is commonly referred to as a possum (; sometimes rendered as 'possum in written form to indicate the dropped "o"). The Australasian arboreal marsupials of suborder Phalangeriformes are also ca…

Evidence: 45 • authority: 72

Mammalia is a class of vertebrate animals. Members of this class are called mammals. It comprises 6,121 extant species, which are grouped into 1,308 genera in 163 families, themselves grouped into 27 orders in 3 major divisions. These orders contain between one and thousands of species. Mammals are characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding their young, a neocortex region of the brain, and fur or hair. Mammals are native to all major land masses and the oceans, and can be found worldwide. They live in every habitat on Earth. The basic mammalian body type is quadrupedal, with most mammals using four limbs for terrestrial locomotion, but in some…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 72

Opossums are marsupials of the order Didelphimorphia, native to the Western Hemisphere. Opossum may also refer to:

Evidence: 31 • authority: 80

The Asopine Species of the Western Hemisphere

Evidence: 31 • authority: 72

This is a list of the native wild mammal species recorded in South America. South America's terrestrial mammals fall into three distinct groups: "old-timers", African immigrants and recent North American immigrants. The marsupials and xenarthrans are "old-timers", their ancestors having been present on the continent since at least the very early Cenozoic Era. During the early Cenozoic, South America's only land connection was to Antarctica, so it was effectively cut off from most of the world; as the fragments of Gondwana continued to separate, this connection was lost, leaving South America an island continent. Caviomorph rodents and monkeys arrived as "waif dispersers" by rafting across t…