Strachey's notes describe the opossum as a 'beast in bigness of a pig and in taste alike,' while Smith recorded it 'hath an head like a swine. Both men encountered the language at the English settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, which Smith helped to found and where Strachey later served as its first secretary. Siebert reconstructs the word phonemically as /a The word opossum is borrowed from the Powhatan language and was first recorded between 16 by John Smith (as opassom) and William Strachey (as aposoum). The opossum is typically a nonaggressive animal and often do not carry the virus for rabies. Opossums should not be confused with the Australasian arboreal marsupials of suborder Phalangeriformes that are also called possums because of their resemblance to the Didelphimorphia. It is often simply referred to as an opossum, and in North America it is commonly referred to as a possum ( / ˈ p ɒ s əm/ sometimes rendered as 'possum in written form to indicate the dropped 'o'). The Virginia opossum is the only species found in the United States and Canada. Opossums originated in South America and entered North America in the Great American Interchange following the connection of North and South America. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 37, 1189–1197.Opossums ( / ə ˈ p ɒ s əm/) are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia ( / d aɪ ˌ d ɛ l f ɪ ˈ m ɔːr f i ə/) endemic to the Americas. Intimate roles for cyanogenic glucosides in the life cycle of Zygaena filipendulae (Lepidoptera, Zygaenidae). Annual Review of Entomology, 40, 269–295. The ecology, behavior, and evolution of periodical cicadas. Adaptive plasticity in hatching age: A response to predation risk trade-offs. Antipredatory function of head shape for vipers and their mimics. Deimatism: a neglected component of antipredator defence. An exposition of the laws of disguise through color and pattern. Concealing coloration in the animal kingdom.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364, 423–427. Animal camouflage: Current issues and new perspectives. Antipredator behaviour of Limnonectes blythii (Boulenger, 1920) (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Kedah, peninsular Malaysia. Off the scale: A new species of fish-scale gecko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Geckolepis) with exceptionally large scales. A review of chemical ecology in poison frogs. From Abbott Thayer to the present day: What have we learned about the function of countershading? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364, 59–527. Paradox lost: Variable color-pattern geometry is associated with differences in movement in aposematic frogs. Rojas, B., Devillechabrolle, J., & Endler, J. Multiple benefits of gregariousness cover detectability costs in aposematic aggregations. Eyespots deflect predator attack increasing fitness and promoting the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. The colours of animals: Their meaning and use. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 47, 432–437. Testing function of fiddler crab claw waving by manipulating social context. Tetrodotoxin-producing bacteria: Detection, distribution and migration of the toxin in aquatic systems. Hidden in plain sight: The ecology and physiology of organismal transparency. Dorsal pigmentation pattern of snakes as an anti-predator strategy – multivariate approach. Movement correlates of lizards’ dorsal pigmentation patterns. American Midland Naturalist, 81, 556–568. Behavioral aspects of feigned death in the opossum Didelphis marsupialis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.įrancq, E. In Behavioural ecology an evolutionary approach (pp. Journal of Experimental Zoology, 270, 451–459.Įndler, J. Mechanism of defensive inflation in the chuckwalla, Sauromalus obesus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ĭeban, S. Tiger Moths and Woolly Bears-behaviour, ecology, and evolution of the Arctiidae. Green tails in lizards of the genus Podarcis: Do they influence the intensity of predation? Herpetologica, 55, 530–537.Ĭonner, W. A comparative study of how British tits encode predator threat in their mobbing calls. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 443, 171–188.Ĭarlson, N. A natural toxic defense system: Cardenolides in butterflies versus birds.

Opossum predators