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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] |
Black-spotted Cuscus
The black-spotted cuscus (''Spilocuscus rufoniger'') is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. It is among the largest members of the family, only being surpassed by the bear cuscus. It is a relatively colourful species found in forests of northern New Guinea. It is threatened by hunting and habitat loss, and has already disappeared from large parts of its range. Consequently, it is rated as Critically Endangered by IUCN. Evolution and history The family Phalangeridae originated from the Australian rainforests by the early Miocene epoch. Since then, cuscuses have successfully diversified from the Phalangerids. Current research has indicated that the Trichosurini (possums) separated from the cuscuses that comprised the extant Phalangerids approximately 23 to 29 million years ago. This split supports the surfacing of Sulawesi and New Guinea. The emergence of these land masses implies that the ancestors of the cuscuses traveled to the New Guinea region that appeared whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Spotted Cuscus
The common spotted cuscus (''Spilocuscus maculatus''), also known as the white cuscus, is a cuscus, a marsupial that lives in the Cape York region of Australia, New Guinea, and nearby smaller islands. Names It is known as or in the Kalam language of Papua New Guinea.Pawley, Andrew and Ralph Bulmer. 2011. ''A Dictionary of Kalam with Ethnographic Notes''. Canberra. Pacific Linguistics. Description The common spotted cuscus is about the size of a common house cat, weighing , body size about long, and a tail long. It has a round head, small hidden ears, thick fur, and a prehensile tail to aid in climbing. Its eyes range in colour from yellows and oranges to reds, and are slit much like a snake's. All four of its limbs have five digits and strong, curved claws, except the first digit on each foot. The second and third digits of the hind foot are partly syndactylous: they are united by skin at the top joint, but divide at the claws. These smaller claws can serve as hair combs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus
The blue-eyed spotted cuscus or Biak spotted cuscus (''Spilocuscus wilsoni'') is a species of critically endangered marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. Taxonomy The blue-eyed spotted cuscus is one of five species of spotted cuscus in the genus '' Spilocuscus''. Description The blue-eyed spotted cuscus has a pale marbled coat with shades of brown, grey, and white with a creamy white underbelly. This species is relatively smaller in size than the other ''Spilocuscus'' cuscuses and has distinct pale blue eyes. Distribution and habitat The blue-eyed spotted cuscus can be found on several of the islands in the Cenderawasih Bay in West Papua of Indonesia. This region is made up of the islands Biak, Supiori, and Numfor. Despite being endemic to the islands Biak and Supiori, the blue-eyed spotted cuscus have been spotted on the island of Numfor as pets. This cuscus lives in the treetops of the tropical rainforests found throughout Supiori and Biak. Due to the rugged te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Admiralty Island Cuscus
The Admiralty Island cuscus or Manus Island spotted cuscus (''Spilocuscus kraemeri'') is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. It is endemic to the Admiralty Islands of Papua New Guinea. It is the smallest member of the genus '' Spilocuscus'', and the female has a black back, while the male has blackish spots on a white background. Both genders have rufous Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish- red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a d ... heads. Listed as Near Threatened because, although it is common within its small range (its extent of occurrence is less than 2,000 km2), there is continuing decline in both quality of habitat and numbers of individuals, thus making the species close to qualifying for Vulnerable under criterion B. The increasing human population pressures and the low fecundity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waigeou Cuscus
The Waigeou cuscus or Waigeou spotted cuscus (''Spilocuscus papuensis'') is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. It is endemic to the island of Waigeo in Indonesia, and consequently the spelling Waigeo cuscus is often used instead of Waigeou cuscus. Unlike all other members of the genus '' Spilocuscus'', both genders are whitish with black spots. It remains fairly common, but its small range makes it vulnerable to habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ... and hunting. References Possums Mammals of Western New Guinea Mammals described in 1822 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Marsupials of New Guinea Taxa named by Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest {{Diprotodont-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Edward Gray
John Edward Gray (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for a zoological name. Gray was keeper of zoology at the British Museum in London from 1840 until Christmas 1874, before the natural history holdings were split off to the Natural History Museum. He published several catalogues of the museum collections that included comprehensive discussions of animal groups and descriptions of new species. He improved the zoological collections to make them amongst the best in the world. Biography Gray was born in Walsall, but his family soon moved to London, where Gray studied medicine. He assisted his father in writing ''The Natural Arrangement of British Plants'' (1821). After being blackballed by the Linnean Society of London, Gray shifted his interest from botany to zoology. He began his zoological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest
Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest (6 March 1784 – 4 June 1838) was a French Zoology, zoologist and author. He was the son of Nicolas Desmarest and the father of Eugène Anselme Sébastien Léon Desmarest. Career Desmarest was a disciple of Georges Cuvier and Alexandre Brongniart, and in 1815, he succeeded Pierre André Latreille to the professorship of zoology at the '. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1819 and to the Académie Nationale de Médecine in 1820. Publications Desmarest published ' (1805), ' (1825), ' (1820), and ' (1816–30, with André Marie Constant Duméril). His ''Mammalogie'' was significant as it contained a comprehensive list of all mammals known at the time, including living forms and extinct forms known only from fossils. Desmarest was one of the first scientists to routinely apply both genus and species names to animals. Prior to his time, it was common practice to give only a genus name to a new animal. Legacy The common name, Desmarest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Cape York Peninsula
The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, S.C. The land is mostly flat and about half of the area is used for grazing cattle. The relatively undisturbed eucalyptus-wooded savannahs, tropical rainforests and other types of habitat are now recognised and preserved for their global environmental significance. Although much of the peninsula remains pristine, with a diverse repertoire of endemic flora and fauna, some of its wildlife may be threatened by industry and overgrazing as well as introduced species and weeds.Mackey, B. G., Nix, H., & Hitchcock, P. (2001). The natural heritage significance of Cape York Peninsula. Retrieved 15 January 2008, froepa.qld.gov.au. The northernmost point of the peninsula is Cape York (Queensland), Cape York. The land has been occupied by a number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 separated from Mainland Australia, Australia by the wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf, and were united during episodes of low sea level in the Pleistocene glaciations as the combined landmass of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The island's name was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 due to the perceived resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the Guinea (region), African region of Guinea. The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the nation of Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea, forms a part of Indonesia and is organized as the provinces of Pap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Possums
Possum may refer to: Animals * Didelphimorphia, or (o)possums, an order of marsupials native to the Americas ** Didelphis, a genus of marsupials within Didelphimorphia *** Common opossum, native to Central and South America *** Virginia opossum, native to North America *** White-eared opossum, native to South America * Phalangeriformes, also called (o)possums, any of a number of arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi ** Common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula''), a common possum in Australian urban areas, invasive in New Zealand ** Common ringtail possum (''Pseudocheirus peregrinus''), also common in Australian urban areas, absent from New Zealand ** Phalangeridae (possums and cuscuses), a family of marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea containing most of the species referred to as "possums" in Australia People with the name * Possum Bourne (1956–2003), New Zealand rally car driver * George Jones (1931–2013), known as "The Pos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
