Slender ringtail possum or Small ringtail possum (''Pseudochirulus''), also known as the ringtail possum, is a genus of
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 ...
in the family
Pseudocheiridae native to
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, ...
,
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
and
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
,
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 ...
. ''Pseudochirulus'' live on trees and their diet mainly consists of leaves. The ringtail possums are related to five other genera
''Hemibelideus'',
''Petauroides'',
''Petropseudes'', ''
Pseudocheirus'' and ''
Pseudochirops''.
Species
It contains the following species:
*
Lowland ringtail possum, ''Pseudochirulus canescens''
*
Weyland ringtail possum, ''Pseudochirulus caroli''
*
Cinereus ringtail possum, ''Pseudochirulus cinereus''
*
Painted ringtail possum, ''Pseudochirulus forbesi''
*
Herbert River ringtail possum, ''Pseudochirulus herbertensis''
*
Masked ringtail possum, ''Pseudochirulus larvatus''
*
Pygmy ringtail possum, ''Pseudochirulus mayeri''
*
Vogelkop ringtail possum, ''Pseudochirulus schlegeli''
References
Possums
Marsupial genera
Taxa named by Paul Matschie
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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