Monodelphis sorex Hensel 1872

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Didelphimorphia, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 3-18 : 15

Monodelphis sorex Hensel 1872

Monodelphis sorex Hensel 1872 , Abh. K. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1872: 122.

Type Locality: "Provinz Rio Grande do Sul;" restricted to Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Taquara, by Cabrera (1958).

Vernacular Names: Southern Red-sided Opossum.

Synonyms: Monodelphis henseli (Thomas 1888) ; Monodelphis itatiayae (Miranda-Ribeiro 1936) ; Monodelphis lundi ( Matschie 1916) ; Monodelphis paulensis (Vieira 1950) .

Distribution: SE Brazil, S Paraguay, and NE Argentina.

Conservation: IUCN – Vulnerable.

Discussion: See Pine et al. (1985). Monodelphis sorex may be the animal Azara (1801) described as "micouré cinquième, ou micouré à queue corte," in which case brevicaudis Olfers, 1818, and its objective synonym wagneri ( Matschie, 1916) would be synonyms and the name sorex (Hensel, 1872) would be replaced by brevicaudis Olfers, 1818, which has 52 years priority over sorex . However, the true identity of Azara’s animal cannot be determined with reasonable certainty. Lacking any compelling evidence to the contrary, the names brevicaudis Olfers, and wagneri Matschie are best treated as nomina oblita and do not affect the validity of sorex Hensel or any other Monodelphis sp. that may be found in the region. Microdelphys sorex Hensel, 1872 , is the type species of Monodelphiops Matschie, 1916 .