Little woolly mouse opossum

{{Short description|Species of marsupial}} {{Speciesbox | image = Marmosa phaea.jpg | status = VU | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Solari, S. |author2=Patterson, B. |date=2015 |title=''Marmosa phaea'' |volume=2015 |article-number=e.T136244A22175055 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T136244A22175055.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Marmosa | parent = Marmosa (Micoureus) | species = phaea | authority = Thomas, 1899 | synonyms = * ''Micoureus phaeus'' <small>(Thomas, 1899)</small> | range_map = Micoureus phaeus area.png | range_map_caption = Range }}

The '''little woolly mouse opossum''' ('''''Marmosa phaea''''') is a nocturnal, arboreal and mainly solitary species of South American marsupial in the family Didelphidae.<ref name = MSW3>{{MSW3 Didelphimorphia | id = 10400128 | page = 13}}</ref> It is native to the western slopes of the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, where it lives at altitudes from sea level to {{convert|1500|m|ft}}.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /> It primarily inhabits lowland rainforest and montane cloud forest, although it has been reported from dry forest in the southern end of its range.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /> It was formerly assigned to the genus ''Micoureus'', which was made a subgenus of ''Marmosa'' in 2009.<ref name = "Voss">{{cite journal | last = Voss | first = R. S. |author2=Jansa, S. A. | title = Phylogenetic relationships and classification of didelphid marsupials, an extant radiation of New World metatherian mammals | journal = Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume = 322 | pages = 1–177 | date = 2009 | doi = 10.1206/322.1 | hdl = 2246/5975 | s2cid = 85017821 }}</ref> Its conservation status is vulnerable, due to habitat fragmentation and continuing loss of habitat via urbanization and conversion to agriculture.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Opossums Category:Mammals of the Andes Category:Marsupials of Colombia Category:Marsupials of Ecuador Category:Marsupials of Peru Category:Mammals described in 1899 Category:Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas