Vocalizations of the Sepia short-tailed Opossum Monodelphis adusta (Thomas, 1897, Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae)

Abstract

As part of their behavior, various groups of species, including marsupials and other mammals, have evolved vocalizations, with varying degrees of complexity, for different communication purposes. Despite the growing interest in the bioacoustics of species, there are groups in which the study in this field is still unknown. A clear example is the genus Monodelphis, the most diverse group of didelphid marsupials. In this work we present the first description of the vocalizations of Monodelphis adusta, the only species of the genus registered in Ecuador, which shows the ability to produce audible phrases with different numbers of syllables.