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The sugar glider is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass. The common name refers to its predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability to glide through the air, much like a flying squirrel. They have very similar habits and appearance to the flying squirrel, despite not being closely related—an example of convergent evolution. The scientific name, Petaurus breviceps, translates from Latin as "short-headed rope-dancer", a reference to their canopy acrobatics.
Phalangeriformes is a suborder of any of about 70 small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi. The suborder includes animals commonly known as possums, gliders, and cuscus. The common name "possum" for various Phalangeriformes species derives from the creatures' resemblance to the opossums of the Americas. However, although opossums are also marsupials, Australasian possums are more closely related to other Australasian marsupials such as kangaroos.
The feathertail glider, also known as the pygmy gliding possum, pygmy glider, pygmy phalanger, flying phalanger and flying mouse, is a species of marsupial native to eastern Australia. It is the world's smallest gliding mammal and is named for its long feather-shaped tail.
The family Petauridae includes 11 medium-sized possum species: four striped possums, six species of wrist-winged gliders in the genus Petaurus and Leadbeater's possum, which has only vestigial gliding membranes. Most of the wrist-winged gliders are native to Australia, most of the striped possums to New Guinea, but some members of each are found on both sides of the Torres Strait.
The squirrel glider is a nocturnal gliding possum. The squirrel glider is one of the wrist-winged gliders of the genus Petaurus.
The genus Petaurus contains flying phalangers or wrist-winged gliders, a group of arboreal marsupials. There are six species, sugar glider, squirrel glider, mahogany glider, northern glider, yellow-bellied glider and Biak glider, and are native to Australia or New Guinea.
The patagium is a membranous structure that assists an animal in gliding or flight. The structure is found in living and extinct groups of animals including bats, birds, some dromaeosaurs, pterosaurs, gliding mammals, some flying lizards, and flying frogs. The patagium that stretches between an animal's hind limbs is called the uropatagium or the interfemoral membrane.
Glider may refer to:
The mahogany glider is an endangered gliding possum native to a small region of coastal Queensland in Australia.
The yellow-bellied glider, also known as the fluffy glider, is an arboreal and nocturnal gliding possum that lives in native eucalypt forests in eastern Australia, from northern Queensland south to Victoria.
The lemur-like ringtail possum, also known as the lemuroid ringtail possum or the brushy-tailed ringtail, is one of the most singular members of the ringtail possum group. It was once thought that they were gliding possums ; Hemibelideus literally translates as "half-glider". They are similar to lemurs in their facial characteristics, which short snouts, large, forward-facing eyes and small ears, but similar to gliders in their musculo-skeletal adaptations to accommodate a leaping lifestyle. Their long, prehensile tail is a further adaptation to their arboreal habitat.
The greater glider is a large gliding marsupial found in Australia. It is not closely related to the Petaurus group of gliding marsupials but instead to the lemur-like ringtail possum, with which it shares the subfamily Hemibelideinae.
Gliding flight is heavier-than-air flight without the use of thrust; the term volplaning also refers to this mode of flight in animals. It is employed by gliding animals and by aircraft such as gliders. This mode of flight involves flying a significant distance horizontally compared to its descent and therefore can be distinguished from a mostly straight downward descent like with a round parachute.
The northern glider is a species of marsupial in the family Petauridae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea, becoming known to science in 1981 after being discovered in the Torricelli Mountains. This species has been found in primary, mid-montane tropical moist forests. It is also known from rural gardens close to forest. The northern glider is Critically Endangered because its occurrence is less than 100 km2, all individuals are located within a single area, and a continuing decline of its habitat quality due to deforestation and human encroachment. They also face a major threat from hunting.
The Biak glider is a species of marsupial in the family Petauridae. It is endemic to the Schouten Islands in the western region of Papua Province, Indonesia. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of Petaurus breviceps.
Petauroidea is a superfamily of marsupials from Australia and New Guinea. It is part of the suborder Phalangeriformes within the order Diprotodontia, which also includes, among others, wombats, kangaroos, cuscuses. The superfamily Phalangeroidea, including cuscuses and brushtail possums and pygmy possums, is the immediate sister group of the Petauroidea.
References
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