Belongs within: Didelphinae.
Marmosa, mouse opossums, are a genus of mostly arboreal opossums found in Central and South America. Molecular phylogenetic analysis suggests that this genus as currently recognised is paraphyletic with regard to Micoureus (Jansa & Voss 2005). Previously, the two genera were distinguished by the longer fur and absence of a throat gland in Micoureus. Micoureus also has the superior border of the frontal bone projecting as a ledge, whereas it is is ridged and beaded in Marmosa sensu stricto (Nowak 1999).
Characters (from Nowak 1999, for Marmosa): Head and body length 85-190 mm, tail length 125-230 mm. Upper parts varying from grey to dark brown to bright reddish brown, underparts paler, from almost white to buff to yellowish; dusky brown or black facial markings usually present around eyes. Fur usually short, fine and velvety (thick, lax and crinkly in Micoureus). Throat gland present in mature males (absent in Micoureus). Tail strongly prehensile, never incrassate, with only short basal brush of hair, either uniformly coloured or slightly paler ventrally than dorsally; caudal scales arranged spirally. Pouch absent. Mammae 9-19, pectoral mammae absent. Skull with lamboidal crest, ridged and beaded superior border on frontal (frontal superior border projected as ledge in Micoureus), and pronounced posterior postorbital process; nasal bones flared at frontomaxillary suture. Second premolar usually larger than third.
<==Marmosa Gray 1821 [incl. Asagis Gloger 1842, Grymaeomys Burmeister 1854, Notogogus Gloger 1842, Quica Liais 1872]C57 |--+--Chacodelphys Voss et al. 2004FS15, JV05 | | `--C. formosusJV05 | `--+--M. rubra Tate 1931FS15, C57 | `--+--M. mexicanaJV05 | | |--M. m. mexicanaG69 | | |--M. m. savannarumG69 | | `--M. m. zeldoniG69 | `--+--M. robinsoni Bangs 1898JV05, C57 | | |--M. r. robinsoni (see below for synonymy)C57 | | |--M. r. isthmica Goldman 1917 [=M. mexicana isthmica, M. mitis isthmica, M. ruatanica isthmica]C57 | | |--M. r. mimetra Thomas 1921 [=M. mitis mimetra, M. ruatanica mimetra]C57 | | `--M. r. simonsi Thomas 1899 [=M. (Caluromys) simonsi, M. mitis simonsi]C57 | `--+--M. andersoniFS15 | `--M. xerophilaFS15 `--+--M. lepidaJV05, C57 [=Didelphys (Micoureus) lepidaC57, Didelphis lepidaC57; incl. M. lepida grandisC57] `--+--+--M. tyleriana Tate 1931FS15, C57 | | |--M. t. tylerianaC57 | | `--M. t. phelpsi Tate 1939C57 | `--+--*M. murina (Linnaeus 1758)C57, JV05, C57 (see below for synonymy) | | |--M. m. murina (see below for synonymy)C57 | | |--M. m. duidae Tate 1931C57 | | |--M. m. klagesi Allen 1900C57 | | |--M. m. madeirensis Cabrera 1913C57 | | |--M. m. meridionalis Miranda Ribeiro 1936C57 | | |--M. m. roraimae Tate 1931C57 | | |--M. m. tobagi Thomas 1911G61 | | `--M. m. waterhousei (Tomes 1860) (see below for synonymy)C57 | `--M. quichua Thomas 1899FS15, C57 [incl. Marmosa musicola Osgood 1913C57, Caluromys musicolaC57] `--Micoureus Lesson 1842JV05, C57 | i. s.: M. laventicusMJ11 |--+--M. demerarae (Thomas 1905)FS15, C57 [=Marmosa cinerea demeraraeC57, Caluromys demeraraeC57] | `--M. paraguayanus (Thomas 1931)FS15, C57 (see below for synonymy) `--+--M. constantiae (Thomas 1904)FS15, C57 [=Marmosa constantiaeC57, Caluromys constantiaeC57] | |--M. c. constantiaeC57 | `--‘Marmosa’ c. budini Thomas 1919C57 `--+--M. alstoni (Allen 1900)FS15, C57 (see below for synonymy) `--+--M. phaeusFS15 `--M. regina (Thomas 1898)FS15, C57 [=Marmosa reginaC57, Caluromys reginaC57] Marmosa incertae sedis: M. canescensCB-E04 |--M. c. canescensMB86 |--M. c. oaxacaeG69 `--M. c. sinaloae Allen 1898MB86 M. cinerea (Temminck 1824) (see below for synonymy)C57 |--M. c. cinerea [incl. M. cinerea travassosi Miranda Ribeiro 1936]C57 |--M. c. areniticola Tate 1931 [=M. demerarae areniticola]C57 |--M. c. esmeraldae That 1931 [=M. demerarae esmeraldae]C57 `--M. c. meridae Tate 1931 [=M. demerarae meridae]C57 M. cracensBP87 M. domina Thomas 1920C57 M. germana Thomas 1904 [=Caluromys germana]C57 |--M. g. germanaC57 |--M. g. parda Tate 1931C57 `--M. g. rutteri Thomas 1924C57 M. handleyiBP87 M. impavida (Tschudi 1844 [=Didelphis impavida]C57 |--M. i. impavida [incl. M. caucae ucayaliensis Tate 1931]C57 |--M. i. albiventris Tate 1931 [=M. caucae albiventris]C57 |--M. i. caucae Thomas 1900 (see below for synonymy)C57 |--M. i. madescens Osgood 1913 [=Marmosa caucae madescens, Marmosops madescens]C57 |--M. i. oroensis Anthony 1922 [=M. caucae oroensis; incl. M. celicae Anthony 1922]C57 `--M. i. purui Miller 1913 [=M. caucae purui, Thylamys purui]C57 M. juninensis Tate 1931C57 M. leucastra Thomas 1927C57 M. mapiriensis Tate 1931C57 M. mitis Bangs 1898G61, C57 |--M. m. mitisG61 |--M. m. chapmani Allen 1900G61 |--M. m. grenadae Thomas 1911G61 `--M. m. luridavolta Goodwin 1961G61 M. ocellata Tate 1931C57 M. parvidens Tate 1931C57 M. phaea Thomas 1899 [incl. M. perplexa Anthony 1922]C57 M. rapposa Thomas 1899 [=Caluromys rapposa]C57 M. scapulata (Burmeister 1856) [=Grymaeomys scapulatus, G. (Marmosops) scapulatus]C57 M. tatei Handley 1957H57 M. yungasensis Tate 1931C57
Marmosa cinerea (Temminck 1824) [=Didelphis cinerea, Caluromys cinerea, Grymaeomys cinerea, Marmosa (Micoureus) cinerea, Philander cinerea]C57
Marmosa impavida caucae Thomas 1900 [=Marmosops caucae, Thylamys caucae; incl. Marmosa sobrina Thomas 1913, Marmosa caucae sobrina, Marmosops sobrina]C57
*Marmosa murina (Linnaeus 1758)C57, JV05, C57 [=Didelphis murinaC57, D. (Micoureus) murinaG61, Didelphys murinusC57, Philander murinaC57, Sarigna murinaC57]
*Marmosa murina murina (Linnaeus 1758) [incl. Ma. chloe Thomas 1907, Didelphis dorsigera Linnaeus 1758, Monodelphis dorsigerens, Didelphis guianensis Kerr 1792, Marmosa moreirae Miranda Ribeiro 1936, Didelphis muscula Cabanis in Schomburgk 1848, Didelphys musculus, Marmosa murina muscula, Ma. parata Thomas 1911, Ma. murina parata]C57
Marmosa murina waterhousei (Tomes 1860) [=Didelphys waterhousei, Caluromys waterhousei; incl. Marmosa bombascarae Anthony 1922, M. maranii Thomas 1924, M. murina maranii]C57
Marmosa robinsoni robinsoni Bangs 1898 [=M. mitis robinsoni, incl. M. mitis casta Thomas 1911, M. mitis pallidiventris Osgood 1812]C57
Micoureus alstoni (Allen 1900)FS15, C57 [=Caluromys alstoniC57, Marmosa cinerea alstoniC57; incl. Didelphis cinerea Alston 1880 non Temminck 1824C57, Didelphys (Micoureus) cinereaC57, Marmosa cinereaC57]
Micoureus paraguayanus (Thomas 1931)FS15, C57 [=Marmosa cinerea paraguayanaC57; incl. Ma. cinerea pfrimeri Miranda Ribeiro 1936C57]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[BP87] Burton, J. A., & B. Pearson. 1987. Collins Guide to the Rare Mammals of the World. Collins: London.
[C57] Cabrera, A. 1957. Catalogo de los mamiferos de America del Sur. I (Metatheria—Unguiculata—Carnivora). Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” e Instituto Nacional de Investigacion de Las Ciencias Naturales, Ciencias Zoológicas 4 (1): 1–307.
[CB-E04] Cardillo, M., O. R. P. Bininda-Emonds, E. Boakes & A. Purvis. 2004. A species-level phylogenetic supertree of marsupials. Journal of Zoology 264: 11–31.
[FS15] Faurby, S., & J.-C. Svenning. 2015. A species-level phylogeny of all extant and late Quaternary extinct mammals using a novel heuristic-hierarchical Bayesian approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 14–26.
[G61] Goodwin, G. G. 1961. The murine opossums (genus Marmosa) of the West Indies, and the description of a new subspecies of Rhipidomys from Little Tobago. American Museum Novitates 2070: 1–20.
[G69] Goodwin, G. G. 1969. Mammals from the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, in the American Museum of Natural History. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 141 (1): 1–269, 40 pls.
[H57] Handley, C. O., Jr. 1957. A new species of murine opossum (genus Marmosa) from Peru. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 46 (12): 402–404.
[JV05] Jansa, S. A., & R. S. Voss. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships of the marsupial genus Hyladelphys based on nuclear gene sequences and morphology. Journal of Mammalogy 86 (5): 853–865.
[MB86] Matson, J. O. & R. H. Baker. 1986. Mammals of Zacatecas. Special Publications, Museum of Texas Tech University 24: 1–88.
[MJ11] Meredith, R. W., J. E. Janečka, J. Gatesy, O. A. Ryder, C. A. Fisher, E. C. Teeling, A. Goodbla, E. Eizirik, T. L. L. Simão, T. Stadler, D. L. Rabosky, R. L. Honeycutt, J. J. Flynn, C. M. Ingram, C. Steiner, T. L. Williams, T. J. Robinson, A. Burk-Herrick, M. Westerman, N. A. Ayoub, M. S. Springer & W. J. Murphy. 2011. Impacts of the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution and KPg extinction on mammal diversification. Science 334: 521–524.
Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker’s Mammals of the World vol. 2. JHU Press.