Mammalia 2018; aop Short Note Cayo Augusto Rocha Dias*, Guilherme Siniciato Terra Garbino and Fernando Araújo Perini On the identity of Didelphis marsupialis Linnaeus 1758 https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2017-0137 Received October 13, 2017; accepted February 6, 2018 Abstract: Given the confusion ensuing from a recent study suggesting that the name Didelphis marsupialis should be applied to white-eared opossums instead of the tradi- tional view that it represents a black-eared opossum, we reviewed all the sources employed by Linnaeus to describe D. marsupialis and examined photographs of the putative type specimen, comparing them with specimens of black- and white-eared Didelphis. We conclude that the type spec- imen presents characters that would allow us to diagnose it as a black-eared opossum species. We believe that the proposed nomenclatural changes not only are unjustified but also disrupt the stability advocated by the Interna- tional Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). Keywords: Albertus Seba; black-eared opossum; type specimen; zoological nomenclature. Opossums of the genus Didelphis Linnaeus 1758 are one of the most ubiquitous mammals in the Americas (Cerque- ira 1980, 1985, Cerqueira and Tribe 2008). Despite being widely distributed and locally abundant (Fonseca and Kierfulff 1988, Julien-laferriere 1991, Emmons and Feer 1997, Melo and Sponchiado 2012, Figueiredo et al. 2017), the scientific names attributed to the species of Didelphis were a matter of debate in the early 20th century (Allen 1897, 1900, 1901, Rehn 1900, 1901, Thomas 1901a,b). The discussion apparently was settled when Thomas (1911) designated as type of Didelphis marsupialis the animal depicted in plate 39 of Seba (1734) (Figure 1A). Accord- ing to Thomas (1901a,b, 1911) this illustration depicted a dark-eared opossum from Suriname. Thus, the name mar- supialis of Linnaeus (1758) was restricted to black-eared opossums. A recent paper (Gurgel-Filho et al. 2015) has rekin- dled the debate about the identity of Didelphis marsupia- lis. Gurgel-Filho et al. propose that the animal depicted in Seba’s plate 39 (Figure 1A) is a white-eared opossum, and not a black-eared species as previously assumed (Gurgel-Filho et al. 2015, p. 22, 23). After this statement, the authors decided to apply the name D. marsupialis Lin- naeus 1758 for the Brazilian white-eared opossum usually known as Didelphis albiventris Lund 1841, and revalidate Didelphis kankrivora [sic], an incorrect spelling of Didel- phis karkinophaga Zimmerman 1780 for the black-eared Didelphis. The authors also changed the type locality of D. marsupialis from Suriname to Pernambuco, Brazil, claiming that Marcgrave (1648), who described animals from Brazil, is the most cited reference by the authors in Linnaeus synonymy. Given the ensuing confusion about the identity of Didelphis marsupialis and the subsequent papers that use the name to refer to the Brazilian white-eared opossum (Dias et al. 2017, Freitas et al. 2017), thus introducing further confusion and uncertainty in the literature, a discussion on this subject is needed. In this note, we reviewed all the sources employed by Linnaeus to describe D. marsupialis, and examined photographs of the putative specimen ana- lyzed by the Swedish author, discussing the findings in the light of what is known of individual and ontogenetic vari- ation in pelage and integument of Didelphis, comparing them with specimens of black- and white-eared Didelphis species housed in the Centro de Coleções Taxonômicas da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). When describing Didelphis marsupialis, Linnaeus cited 11 references, three of which were written by Lin- naeus himself: the sixth edition of Systema Naturae (Lin- naeus 1748), the doctoral dissertation of Laurentius Balk (Linnaeus 1749), and a description of the specimens in *Corresponding author: Cayo Augusto Rocha Dias, Laboratório de Evolução de Mamíferos, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, 31270-010, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil; and Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, 31270-010, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil, e-mail: cayodias@gmail.com Guilherme Siniciato Terra Garbino and Fernando Araújo Perini: Laboratório de Evolução de Mamíferos, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, 31270-010, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil; and Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, 31270-010, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil Brought to you by | Boston University Library Mugar Memorial Library Authenticated Download Date | 4/12/18 9:14 PM