The central greater glider (''Petauroides armillatus'') is a species of gliding

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 r ...

native to the central coast of

eastern Australia The eastern states of Australia are the states adjoining the east continental coastline of Australia. These are the mainland states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and the island state of Tasmania. The Australian Capital Territor ...

Taxonomy

It was initially described as a subspecies of '' Petauroides volans'', which alongside '' Petauroides minor'' formerly comprised a single species known simply as the

greater glider The greater gliders are three species of large gliding marsupials in the genus ''Petauroides'', all of which are found in eastern Australia. Until 2020 they were considered to be one species, '' Petauroides volans''. In 2020 morphological and gen ...

. It was shortly after synonymized with ''P. v. minor''. However, in 2012 and 2015, several field guides written by Colin Groves and/or Stephen Jackson listed the greater glider as being split into three species, which was confirmed by a 2020 analysis, which found significant genetic and morphological differences between the three species. The

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...

now considers it a distinct species. There is some evidence of hybridization between this species and ''P. minor'' near the northern edge of its range.

Distribution

Although Jackson and Groves listed the species as ranging from just north of

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

south to the Eungella Range, genetic analysis by McGregor ''et al''. has found the southern limit of the species' range to extend at least as far as

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, and likely even further south. Due to insufficient sampling from

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, the exact borders between the range of ''P. armillatus'' and ''P. volans'' remains unknown.

Description

This species is intermediate in size between ''P. volans'' and ''P. minor''. It is similar to ''P. minor'' in body length, and similar to ''P. volans'' in ear length and width. It can be distinguished from the other two species by its brownish-silver

pelage A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...

, with a dark brown face, legs, and tail, and a cream underside.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q50365762 Gliding possums Endemic fauna of Australia Mammals of Queensland Mammals described in 1923 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas