Little Woolly Mouse Opossum

Open encyclopedia reference

The little woolly mouse opossum (Marmosa phaea) is a nocturnal, arboreal and mainly solitary species of South American marsupial in the family Didelphidae. It is native to the western slopes of the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, where it lives at altitudes from sea level to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). It primarily inhabits lowland rainforest and montane cloud forest, although it has been reported from dry forest in the southern end of its range. It was formerly assigned to the genus Micoureus, which was made a subgenus of Marmosa in 2009. Its conservation status is vulnerable, due to habitat fragmentation and continuing loss of habitat via urbanization and conversion to agriculture.

Wikipedia contributors, Little woolly mouse opossum; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:44:01.253750+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Marmosa (Micoureus) phaea Thomas, 1899

Name authority

Thomas, 1899

Common name

Little Woolly Mouse Opossum

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Didelphimorphia

Family

Didelphidae

Genus

Marmosa

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassMetatheria Huxley, 1880
11. orderDidelphimorphia Gill, 1872
12. familyDidelphidae Gray, 1821
13. subfamilyDidelphinae Gray, 1821
14. tribeMarmosini Hershkovitz, 1992
15. genusMarmosa Gray, 1821
16. subgenusMicoureus Lesson, 1842
17. speciesMarmosa (Micoureus) phaea Thomas, 1899

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Marmosa. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 84 records assigned to Didelphidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1255409 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:DDFRJ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.