This new species of marsupial was discovered in the remote cloud forest of Peru. (Photo: Pedro Peloso)
While exploring the vicinity of an archaeological site in the Peruvian Andes, researchers discovered a previously unseen creature. This tiny, large-eyed marsupial, named Marmosa chachapoya, belongs to a newly identified species of mouse opossum.
“We know very little about this species, including its natural history and distribution, and only one specimen has been collected so far,” said Sylvia Pavan, a biologist at California Polytechnic University, Humboldt, who led the research expedition that discovered the creature.
In 2018, Pavan and her team were searching for a mysterious squirrel species in Rio Abiseo National Park when they discovered a possum. This small mammal, just 10 centimeters long, had reddish-brown fur and mask-like markings on its face.
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“I knew right away it was something unusual,” Pawan said, in part because related mouse possum species aren't typically found at that altitude—8,740 feet (2,664 meters) above sea level.
The team spent years studying the opossum's DNA and physical characteristics, comparing them with data on other mouse opossums in museum collections around the world. In June, the researchers published a detailed study in the journal American Museum Novitates, naming the marsupial Marmosa chachapoya after the ancient people who inhabited the region before the arrival of the Inca Empire.
The ancient Chachapoya people lived in northern Peru from approximately 800 CE until the arrival of the Incas in the 1470s. Often referred to as the “people of the cloud forest,” the Chachapoyas lived in the humid, harsh terrain of the eastern Andes and built their homes on mountaintops.
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Rio Abiseo National Park contains over three dozen archaeological sites, many of which are associated with the Chachapoya people. However, this remote and inaccessible park was also established as an important conservation area to protect plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Among them is the yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda), once thought extinct.
In addition to the new mouse opossum species, Pavan and her team discovered several other animals they believe have never been described by scientists. These creatures, including a semi-aquatic rodent, have not yet been formally described.
Pavan said the discovery of the new marsupial species is “a reminder of the critical importance of scientific research and conservation in regions like Rio Abiseo.”
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Christina Killgrove, Social Link Navigation, Staff Writer
Christina Killgrove is a staff writer for Live Science, specializing in archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her articles have also appeared in publications such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Christina holds a PhD in biological anthropology and an MA in classical archaeology from the University of North Carolina, as well as a BA in Latin from the University of Virginia. She previously worked as a university professor and researcher. She has received awards for her research from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association.
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