Table 2.

Summary of the age at which specific lymphocyte populations were initially detected in the immune tissues of marsupials

		Lymphocytes initially stained in stripe-faced dunnart
Tissue	Species	CD3+	CD5+	CD79b+	Reference
Liver	Stripe-faced dunnart	NS	NS	NS	this study
	Tammar wallaby	NS	NS	NS	Old & Deane (2003)
Bone marrow	Stripe-faced dunnart	NS	NS	NS	this study
	Tammar wallaby	NS	NS	NS	Old & Deane (2003)
Thymus	White bellied opossum*	14 mm CRL	NA	NA	Coutinho et al. (1995)
	Stripe-faced dunnart	by 12 days	by 50 days	rare	this study
	Brushtail possum	day 2	NA	NA	Baker et al. (1999)
	Tammar wallaby	by day 12	by day 12	by day 23 (rare)	Old & Deane (2003)
Spleen	White bellied opossum*	80 mm CRL	NA	weanling	Coutinho et al. (1995)
	Stripe-faced dunnart	by 43 days	by 21/2 months	by 43 days	this study
	Brushtail possum	by day 25	NA	NA	Baker et al. (1999)
	Tammar wallaby	by day 21	by day 30	by day 21	Old & Deane (2003)
Lymph nodes	White bellied opossum*	75 mm CRL	NA	weanling	Coutinho et al. (1995)
	Stripe-faced dunnart	by 50 days	by 15 days	by 50 days	this study
	Tammar wallaby	by day 24	by day 24	by day 35	Old & Deane (2003)
GALT	Stripe-faced dunnart	by 50 days	by 57 days	by 50 days	this study
	White bellied opossum*	24 mm CRL	NA	> 60 mm CRL	Coutinho et al. (1994)
	Brushtail possum	from day 2	NA	NA	Baker et al. (1999)
	Tammar wallaby	day 12 (rare)	day 74 (rare)	day 7 (rare)	Old & Deane (2003)
BALT	Stripe-faced dunnart	juvenile	juvenile	juvenile	this study
	Tammar wallaby	no BALT	no BALT	no BALT	Old & Deane (2003)

NS, no staining at any age; NA, not attempted; CRL, crown–rump length.

^*Growth charts have not been constructed for this species (Didelphis albiventris).