OPOSSUM Jump to: navigation, search For the Eastern Hemisphere marsupial, see possum. Didelphimorphia[1] Temporal range: Late Cretaceous–Recent PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Virginia Opossum Didelphis virginiana Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Infraclass: Marsupialia Order: Didelphimorphia Gill, 1872 Family: Didelphidae Gray, 1821 Genera Several; see text OPOSSUM

The Scribe Valdemir Mota de Menezes in December 2011 found this saru killed in the area of the house in the Garden of Eden . As this day the dogs were in place, I suspect that one of the dogs killed.

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For the Eastern Hemisphere marsupial, see possum.

Didelphimorphia[1] Temporal range: Late Cretaceous–Recent PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Virginia Opossum Didelphis virginiana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Didelphimorphia Gill, 1872
Family:	Didelphidae Gray, 1821
Genera
Several; see text

Opossums (Didelphimorphia, /daɪˌdɛlfɨˈmɔrfiə/) make up the largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, including 103 or more species in 19 genera. They are also commonly called possums, though that term technically refers to Australian fauna of the suborder Phalangeriformes. The Virginia opossum was the first animal to be named an opossum; usage of the name was published in 1610.^[2] The word opossum comes from the Proto-Algonquian aposoum, pronounced *wa˙p- aʔθemw, meaning "white dog" or "white beast/ animal".^[3] Opossums probably diverged from the basic South American marsupials in the late Cretaceous or early Paleocene.