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Cuscus
Cuscus ( or ) is the common name generally given to the species within the four genera of Australasian possum of the family Phalangeridae with the most tropical distribution: * '' Ailurops'' * '' Phalanger'' * '' Spilocuscus'' * '' Strigocuscus'' The name comes from the word ''kusu'' or ''kuso'' in some local related languages spoken in the Maluku Islands like Bacan and Ambonese Malay. It is also applied in parts of Indonesia to the Sunda slow loris, where people do not distinguish this from the "kuskus" possums. Note however, that the loris, being a primate, is unrelated to the other cuscus species. Cuscus are marsupials, even though they have some appearances, traits and attributes like those of lemurs of Madagascar, which are prosimians, due to convergent evolution. See also * Reduplication In linguistics, reduplication is a Morphology (linguistics), morphological process in which the Root (linguistics), root or Stem (linguistics), stem of a word, part of that, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Phalangeridae
The Phalangeridae are a family of mostly nocturnal marsupials native to Australia, New Guinea, and Eastern Indonesia, including the cuscuses, brushtail possums, and their close relatives. Considered a type of possum, most species are arboreal, and they inhabit a wide range of forest habitats from alpine woodland to eucalypt forest and tropical jungle. Many species have been introduced to various non-native habitats by humans for thousands of years. Characteristics Phalangerids are relatively large, compared with other possums. The smallest species, the Sulawesi dwarf cuscus, is cat-sized, averaging in length, while the largest, the black-spotted cuscus, is around long, and weighs . Besides the large size, other key features distinguishing phalangerids from other possums include the presence of bare skin on at least part of the tail, and low-crowned molar teeth. They have claws on the fore feet, but none on the hind feet, although these do have an opposable first toe to help ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Phalangeriformes
Phalangeriformes is a paraphyletic suborder of about 70 species of small to medium-sized arboreal locomotion, arboreal marsupials native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi. The species are commonly known as possums, opossums, gliders, and cuscus. The common name "(o)possum" for various Phalangeriformes species derives from the creatures' resemblance to the opossums of the Americas (the term comes from Powhatan language ''aposoum'' "white animal", from proto-Algonquian language, Proto-Algonquian *''wa·p-aʔɬemwa'' "white dog"). However, although opossums are also marsupials, Australasian possums are more closely related to other Australidelphia, Australasian marsupials such as kangaroos. Phalangeriformes are quadrupedalism, quadrupedal Diprotodontia, diprotodont marsupials with long tails. The smallest species, indeed the smallest diprotodont marsupial, is the Tasmanian pygmy possum, with an adult head-body length of and a weight of . The largest are the two species of be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Spilocuscus
''Spilocuscus'' is a genus of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. Its members are found on the Cape York Peninsula of Australia, New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ..., and smaller nearby islands. It contains the following species: * Admiralty Island cuscus, ''Spilocuscus kraemeri'' * Common spotted cuscus, ''Spilocuscus maculatus'' * Waigeou cuscus, ''Spilocuscus papuensis'' * Black-spotted cuscus, ''Spilocuscus rufoniger'' * Blue-eyed spotted cuscus, ''Spilocuscus wilsoni'' References Possums Marsupial genera Taxa named by John Edward Gray Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Diprotodont-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Phalanger
''Phalanger'' (from the Greek ''phalangion'', meaning spider's web, from their webbed (fused) toesChambers English Dictionary) is a genus of possums. Its members are found on New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, other nearby small islands, and Australia's Cape York Peninsula. They are marsupials of the family Phalangeridae, and are one of the four genera whose species are commonly referred to as cuscuses. *Genus ''Phalanger'' **Gebe cuscus The Gebe cuscus (''Phalanger alexandrae'') is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. It is endemic to the island of Gebe, North Maluku province, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in So ..., ''P. alexandrae'' ** Mountain cuscus, ''P. carmelitae'' ** Ground cuscus, ''P. gymnotis'' ** Eastern common cuscus, ''P. intercastellanus'' ** Woodlark cuscus, ''P. lullulae'' ** Blue-eyed cuscus, ''P. matabiru'' ** Telefomin cuscus, ''P. matanim'' ** Southern common cuscus, ''P. mimicus'' ** Nort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Strigocuscus
Dwarf cuscus (''Strigocuscus'') is a nocturnal, arboreal marsupial genus in the family Phalangeridae found only in Sulawesi (the largest island in Wallacea) and some of its surrounding small offshore islands. Due to the unique biogeography of Sulawesi giving sub-regions of endemism, it is likely that there are several different species or subspecies as yet to be described by science. So far, the genus contains the following species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...: * Sulawesi dwarf cuscus (''Strigocuscus celebensis'') * Banggai cuscus (''Strigocuscus pelengensis'') References Marsupial genera Possums Taxa named by John Edward Gray Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{marsupial-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ailurops
The bear cuscuses are the members of the genus ''Ailurops''. They are marsupials of the family Phalangeridae. The bear cuscuses are arboreal marsupials. Almost nothing is known of their status and ecology. Although some scientists assign all populations to one species, ''A. ursinus'', others place ''melanotis'' as its own species. The genus is distinct, though, and some authorities place it within its own subfamily, Ailuropinae. They are found only in Indonesia on Sulawesi and some smaller nearby islands that are biogeographically part of Wallacea, which from a faunal standpoint is intermediate between the Australian and Indomalayan realms. It is hypothesized that the isolation of the bear cuscuses on the island of Sulawesi in the Miocene accounts for the animal's morphological divergence from the rest of the family Phalangeridae. The genus contains the following species: * Talaud bear cuscus, ''Ailurops melanotis'' - Salebabu Island in the Talaud Islands * Sulawesi bear cusc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Marsupial
Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a relatively undeveloped state and then nurtured within a pouch on their mother's abdomen. Extant marsupials encompass many species, including Kangaroo, kangaroos, Koala, koalas, Opossum, opossums, Phalangeriformes, possums, Tasmanian devil, Tasmanian devils, Wombat, wombats, Wallaby, wallabies, and Bandicoot, bandicoots. Marsupials constitute a clade stemming from the last common ancestor of extant Metatheria, which encompasses all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to Placentalia, placentals. The evolutionary split between placentals and marsupials occurred 125-160 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous period. Presently, close to 70% of the 334 extant marsupial species are concentrated on the Australian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesia. Lying within Wallacea (mostly east of the biogeography, biogeographical Max Carl Wilhelm Weber, Weber Line), the Moluccas have been considered a geographical and cultural intersection of Asia and Oceania. The islands were known as the Spice Islands because of the nutmeg, Nutmeg#Mace, mace, and cloves that were exclusively found there, the presence of which sparked European colonial interests in the 16th century. The Maluku Islands formed a single Provinces of Indonesia, province from Indonesian independence until 1999, when they were split into two provinces. A new province, North Maluku, incorporates the area between Morotai and Sula Islands Regency, Sula, with the arc of islands from Buru and Seram Island, Seram to Wetar rem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sunda Slow Loris
The Sunda slow loris (''Nycticebus coucang''), or greater slow loris, is a Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris native to Indonesia, West Malaysia, southern Thailand and Singapore. It measures from head to tail and weighs between . Like other slow lorises, it has a wet nose (rhinarium), a round head, small ears hidden in thick fur, a flat face, large eyes and a Vestigiality, vestigial tail. The Sunda slow loris is Nocturnality, nocturnal and Arboreal locomotion, arboreal, typically occurring in evergreen forests. It prefers rainforests with continuous dense canopy (biology), canopies and has an extremely low metabolic rate compared to other mammals of its size. Its diet consists of Plant sap, sap, floral nectar, fruit and arthropods, and will feed on exudates such as Gum (botany), gum and sap by licking wounds in trees. Individuals are generally solitary, with one study showing only 8% of its active time was spent near other individuals. It has a mon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Reduplication
In linguistics, reduplication is a Morphology (linguistics), morphological process in which the Root (linguistics), root or Stem (linguistics), stem of a word, part of that, or the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication is Edward Sapir, Edward Sapir's: "Generally employed, with self-evident symbolism, to indicate such concepts as distribution, plurality, repetition, customary activity, increase of size, added intensity, continuance." It is used in inflections to convey a grammatical function, such as plurality or intensification, and in Lexicon, lexical Derivation (linguistics), derivation to create new words. It is often used when a speaker adopts a tone more expressive or figurative than ordinary speech and is also often, but not exclusively, Iconicity, iconic in meaning. It is found in a wide range of languages and language groups, though its level of Productivity (linguistics), linguistic productivit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Convergent Evolution
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last common ancestor of those groups. The cladistic term for the same phenomenon is Cladogram#Homoplasies, homoplasy. The recurrent evolution of flight is a classic example, as flying pterygota, insects, birds, pterosaurs, and bats have independently evolved the useful capacity of flight. Functionally similar features that have arisen through convergent evolution are ''analogous'', whereas ''homology (biology), homologous'' structures or traits have a common origin but can have dissimilar functions. Bird, bat, and pterosaur wings are analogous structures, but their forelimbs are homologous, sharing an ancestral state despite serving different functions. The opposite of convergence is divergent evolution, where related species evolve different trai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Prosimian
Prosimians are a group of primates that includes all living and extinct Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines (lemurs, Lorisoidea, lorisoids, and Adapiformes, adapiforms), as well as the Haplorhini, haplorhine tarsiers and their extinct relatives, the Omomyidae, omomyiforms, i.e. all primates excluding the simians. They are considered to have characteristics that are more "Primitive (biology), primitive" (ancestral or Cladistics#Terminology for character states, plesiomorphic) than those of simians (monkeys, apes, and humans). Simians emerged within the Prosimians as sister group of the Haplorhini, haplorhine tarsiers, and therefore Cladistics, cladistically belong to this group. Simians are thus distinctly closer related to tarsiers than lemurs are. Strepsirrhines bifurcated some 20 million years earlier than the tarsier - simian bifurcation. However, simians are traditionally excluded, rendering prosimians paraphyletic. Consequently, the term "prosimian" is no longer widely used in a ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
