História natural e biologia reprodutiva de marsupiais no Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Brasil Natural history and reproductive biology of marsupials from Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Abstract

Three forested habitats at Pantanal of Poconé (Mato Grosso) were sampled during 17 months, with an effort of 38,635 trap-nights, resulting in a 6.3% of trapping success. Six marsupial and eight rodent species were recorded. Natural history, reproductive biology, behavior and habitat use are described for six marsupial species from the Pantanal floodplain: Caluromys philander (Linnaeus, 1758), Didelphis albiventris Lund, 1840, Gracilinanus agilis (Burmeister, 1854), Micoureus demerarae (Thomas, 1905), Monodelphis domestica (Wagner, 1842) and Philander opossum (Linnaeus, 1758). Micoureus demerarae was the species with the highest number of captured individuals (n = 240) and with the highest number of capture events (n = 1287). Reproduction of most species begins at the end of the dry season, being intensified during the wet season. The flooded forest locally known as 'landis' showed the highest marsupial species richness (six species), whereas the forests that are never flooded, locally known as 'cordilheiras', and the seasonally flooded forest, locally known as 'cambarazais', showed the lowest species richness, with three species each.

Keywords

• Habitat use
• Pantanal floodplain