Development of the Epidermis of the Marsupial Trichosurus Vulpecula

Abstract

Development of the epidermis has been studied in the brush·tailed possum T. vulpecula. Although the epidermis is thin at birth (about 12 !Lm), there is a four· to fivefold increase in epidermal thickness during the first 21 days after birth. However, when the young first emerge from the pouch, at about 120 days, the epidermis has returned to the thickness seen at birth. The thickness in adults is usually about 15 !Lm. Hair follicles differentiate from the epidermis of pouch young throughout the period of increasing epidermal thickness and during most of the subsequent period of decreasing thickness.