The Phalangeridae are a family of mostly

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

marsupials 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 ...

native to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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 Eastern

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, including the cuscuses,

brushtail possum The brushtail possums are the members of the genus ''Trichosurus'' in the Phalangeridae, a family of marsupials. They are native to Australia (including Tasmania) and some small nearby islands. Unique among marsupials, they have shifted the hyp ...

s, and their close relatives. Considered a type of

possum 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 ...

, most species are

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

, and they inhabit a wide range of forest habitats from alpine woodland to

eucalypt Eucalypt is any woody plant with Capsule (fruit), capsule fruiting bodies belonging to one of seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

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 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, ...

. 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 grip onto branches. Additionally, in all but one species, both the first and second digits of the fore feet are opposable. Their fur is typically dense or woolly, and may be grey, black, or reddish-brown, often with spots or stripes. Most phalangerids are

folivore In zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less energy than other types of foods, and often toxic compounds.Jones, S., Martin, R., & Pilbeam, D. (1 ...

s, feeding primarily on leaves. Like some similar species, they have a large

cecum The cecum ( caecum, ; plural ceca or caeca, ) is a pouch within the peritoneum that is considered to be the beginning of the large intestine. It is typically located on the right side of the body (the same side of the body as the appendix (a ...

to ferment this highly fibrous food and extract as much nutrition as possible. Their teeth, though, are not as highly adapted to this diet as other possums, and they also eat fruit, and even some invertebrates. The only exception to these general rules is the ground cuscus, which is

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...

, and is also less arboreal than other phalangerid species. The dental formula of phalangerids is:

Gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...

in phalangerids lasts 16–17 days in those species so far studied. The females have a well-developed pouch, and typically raise only one or two young at a time, less than many other possums. The adults are typically solitary, defending territories marked by scent-gland spray, odiferous saliva, urine, or dung. Most possums conserve the functions of the epipubic bones. The exception is '' Trichosurus'', which remarkably among marsupials has shifted the

hypaxial In adult vertebrates, trunk muscles can be broadly divided into hypaxial muscles, which lie ventral to the horizontal septum of the vertebrae and epaxial muscles, which lie dorsal to the septum. Hypaxial muscles include some vertebral muscles, the ...

muscles from the epipubic to the

pelvis The pelvis (: pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of an Anatomy, anatomical Trunk (anatomy), trunk, between the human abdomen, abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also c ...

, employing a more

placental Placental mammals (infraclass Placentalia ) are one of the three extant subdivisions of the class Mammalia, the other two being Monotremata and Marsupialia. Placentalia contains the vast majority of extant mammals, which are partly distinguished ...

-like breathing, having lost the benefits of the epipubic in regards to lung ventilation. In general, these possums are more terrestrial than other members of this group, and resemble terrestrial

primates Primates is an order of mammals, which is further divided into the strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and lorisids; and the haplorhines, which include tarsiers and simians ( monkeys and apes). Primates arose 74–63 ...

in some respects.

Classification

This classification is based on Beck ''et al.'' (2022). The listing for extant species is based on The Third edition of Wilson & Reeder's

Mammal Species of the World ''Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference'' is a standard reference work in mammalogy giving descriptions and Bibliographic database, bibliographic data for the known species of mammals. It is now in its third edition, ...

(2005), except where th
Mammal Diversity Database
and

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

agree on a change. * ''

Incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

'' ** '' Eocuscus''? *** '' Eocuscus sarastamppi''? ** '' Onirocuscus'' *** '' Onirocuscus inversus'' *** '' Onirocuscus notialis'' *** '' Onirocuscus reidi'' *** '' Onirocuscus rupina'' *** '' Onirocuscus silvacultrix'' ** '' "Trichosurus" dicksoni'' * Subfamily Trichosurinae ** '' Archerus''? *** '' Archerus johntoniae''? ** '' Trichosurus'' *** Northern brushtail possum ('' Trichosurus arnhemensis'') *** Short-eared possum ('' Trichosurus caninus'') *** Mountain brushtail possum ('' Trichosurus cunninghami'') *** '' Trichosurus hamiltonensis'' *** Coppery brushtail possum ('' Trichosurus johnstonii'') ***

Common brushtail possum The common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula'', from the Ancient Greek, Greek for "furry tailed" and the Latin for "little fox", previously in the genus ''Phalangista'') is a nocturnal, semiarboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae ...

('' Trichosurus vulpecula'') ** '' Wyulda'' *** '' Wyulda asherjoeli'' *** Scaly-tailed possum ('' Wyulda squamicaudata'') * Subfamily Ailuropinae ** '' Ailurops'' *** Talaud bear cuscus ('' Ailurops melanotis'') *** Sulawesi bear cuscus ('' Ailurops ursinus'') ** '' Strigocuscus'' *** Sulawesi dwarf cuscus ('' Strigocuscus celebensis'') *** Banggai cuscus ('' Strigocuscus pelegensis'') * Subfamily Phalangerinae ** '' 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 ...

Vernacular names

Blust (1982, 1993, 2002, 2009)Blust, Robert. 2009. The position of the languages of eastern Indonesia: A Reply to Donohue and Grimes. Oceanic Linguistics 48:36–77. reconstructs the

form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form may also refer to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter dat ...

''*kandoRa'' cuscus for Proto- Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian (i.e., the reconstructed

most recent common ancestor A most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as a last common ancestor (LCA), is the most recent individual from which all organisms of a set are inferred to have descended. The most recent common ancestor of a higher taxon is generally assu ...

of the

Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages The Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian (CEMP) languages form a proposed branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages consisting of over 700 languages (Blust 1993). Distribution The Central Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken in the Lesser Sun ...

), but the validity of this reconstruction is doubted by Schapper (2011). Schapper (2011) shows that reconstructed forms for cuscus are in fact quite diverse, and cannot be reconstructed to Proto- Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian. Other names for cuscus are: *Proto-

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

: ''*madar'' *Proto- Southeast Maluku: ''*mander'' *Proto- Central Maluku: ''*mansər'' *

Proto-Oceanic Proto-Oceanic (abbreviated as POc) is a proto-language that comparative linguistics, historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic languages, Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian ...

: ''*kadroRa''; a semantic shift occurred from cuscus to

bandicoot Bandicoots are a group of more than 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial, largely nocturnal marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia. They are endemic to the Australia–New Guinea region, including the Bismarck Archipela ...

(

Peramelidae The marsupial family Peramelidae contains the extant bandicoots. They are found throughout Australia and New Guinea, with at least some species living in every available habitat, from rainforest to desert. Four fossil peramelids are described. O ...

) from Proto-Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Oceanic for the form ''*mans(a,ə)r''. *Proto- South Halmahera: ''*do'' *Proto- Aru: ''*wagal'' * North Bomberai languages: ** Onin: ** Sekar: ** Arguni: *Proto- North Halmahera (non-Austronesian): ''*kusoro'' Other local names for the cuscus are: * Central Maluku: Hila ''makel'', Manipa , Wakasihu , Hitu , Kailolo , Katu , Larike ,

Nuaulu The Nuaulu, Naulu or Nunuhai are an ethnic group located in Seram, Maluku (province), Maluku, Indonesia. Description The group name 'Nuaulu' means head atersof the Nua River, which is the ancestral homeland of the Nuaulu people. In the late 1 ...

: Kemak , Tetun , Mambae Galoli , Waima'a , Uab Meto , Roma , Wetar ''maʧa'' *

Bird's Head Peninsula The Bird's Head Peninsula ( Indonesian: , , meaning Bird's Head in Indonesian and Dutch) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai'') is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indones ...

: Irarutu , Meoswar , Ansus , Warembori

References

{{Authority control Possums Mammal families Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas