| Mahogany glider [1] | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | Petauridae |
| Genus: | Petaurus |
| Species: | P. gracilis |
| Binomial name | |
| Petaurus gracilis (de Vis, 1883) | |
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| Mahogany glider range | |
The mahogany glider (Petaurus gracilis) is an endangered gliding possum [3] native to a small region of coastal Queensland in Australia.
A nocturnal [4] arboreal marsupial, the mahogany glider closely resembles the sugar glider, the squirrel glider and the yellow-bellied glider, [5] but is noticeably larger than any of its relatives (26.5 cm long and 410 g) [6] and has a long tail (34–40 cm). The species gets its common name from its mahogany-brown belly and the similar colour of its patagium, or gliding membrane. The tail is covered in short hair, and is black on the underside. [3]
These gliders are sexually dimorphic, with the males being larger than the females, although the latter usually have a longer tail in proportion to their body. [3] In terms of their body length, females are marginally smaller, measuring 23 to 27 centimetres (9.1 to 10.6 in) compared with the male body length of 23 to 28 centimetres (9.1 to 11.0 in), but they have a slightly longer tail, measuring 35 to 41 centimetres (14 to 16 in) compared with 34 to 41 centimetres (13 to 16 in) in males. However, despite their similar apparent size, the females, at 310 to 454 grams (10.9 to 16.0 oz), are much more lightly built than the males, which weigh between 345 and 500 grams (12.2 and 17.6 oz). [4]
The mahogany glider is restricted to a very small area, between Ollera Creek south of Ingham and Tully in North Queensland, Australia. [7] The habitat consists mainly of open forest with many different flowering plants that provide year-round food. [3]
The mahogany glider has a long breeding season with births starting April and ending in October. [8] Litters consist of one or two young, and are usually born once a year, although a mother can give birth to a second litter if the first is lost before leaving the pouch. The young are weaned at four to five months, and reach sexual maturity at twelve to eighteen months. [6] [8] They have been recorded to live to about five or six years of age. [4]
Each pair of adults shares some of their dens with offspring from the previous breeding season. These dens are marked and defended from other mahogany gliders. The pairs are usually monogamous, although extra-pair matings have been observed. [3]
The mahogany glider eats eucalypt sap and gum, acacia sap and seeds, grass tree sap, pollen, nectar, insects, [7] [9] [10] [11] mistletoe, honeydew, wattle exudates, and at least twenty different tree and shrub species. [3] [6] [12]
It is nocturnal, with adults living together in monogamous pairs. In ideal conditions, the combined home range of a pair of animals averages around 23 hectares (57 acres), although this may be smaller in areas of fragmented habitat. Animals travel a considerable distance each night, with 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) being typical; they are generally more mobile in the wet season than in the height of the dry season. During the day, mahogany gliders den in high trees, with poplar gums and forest red gums being especially favoured. Although they are socially monogamous, they do not usually share dens, with each individual having from three to nine dens within its home range. [4]
In January the time spent outside of the den for travelling and feeding is around 40%, while in September the amount was 77%. This activity was spent mostly at night ranging in a continuous period of 8–10 hours outside. [13]
Mahogany gliders have been reported to make deep, nasal grunting sounds when travelling at night, and a similar, but much louder and more rapid, alarm call, which has been described as "reminiscent of a lawnmower". [4] Predators include scrub python, owls, and, in some instances, feral cats. [4]
Mahogany gliders are listed as a threatened species. First discovered in 1886 by a collector from the Queensland Museum the species was lost to science for over a hundred years until it was rediscovered in 1989 and finally identified as a different species. [9]
In 2000, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service enacted a recovery programme for the mahogany glider. [14] The Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland also had a recovery programme for the preservation of gliders, including the mahogany glider. [15]
The main threat to mahogany gliders is habitat loss due to clearing for development, forestry and agriculture. Over 80% of their habitat has been destroyed leaving pockets of isolated populations. Scientists at James Cook University are researching the genetic health of the species and working with partners to determine whether the species is present on Hinchinbrook Island off the coast. [16]
Mahogany gliders can be seen in captivity at David Fleay Wildlife Park [17] and Cairns Tropical Zoo, [18] both of which participate in breeding programmes for the mahogany glider.
The sugar glider is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum. 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 paraphyletic suborder of about 70 species of small to medium-sized arboreal marsupials native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi. The species are 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.
Diprotodontia is the largest extant order of marsupials, with about 155 species, including the kangaroos, wallabies, possums, koala, wombats, and many others. Extinct diprotodonts include the hippopotamus-sized Diprotodon, and Thylacoleo, the so-called "marsupial lion".
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.
Petauridae is a family of possums containing 11 species: four species of trioks and striped possum, six species of wrist-winged glider, and Leadbeater's possum, which has only vestigial gliding membranes. Most of the wrist-winged gliders are native to Australia, whereas most of the striped possums to New Guinea, but some members of each group are found on both sides of the Torres Strait. Leadbeater's possum is endemic to Victoria, Australia.
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 possums native to Australia, New Guinea, and surrounding islands. There are eight species: the sugar glider, savanna glider, Krefft's glider, squirrel glider, mahogany glider, northern glider, yellow-bellied glider and Biak glider.
Australidelphia is the superorder that contains roughly three-quarters of all marsupials, including all those native to Australasia and a single species — the monito del monte — from South America. All other American marsupials are members of the Ameridelphia. Analysis of retrotransposon insertion sites in the nuclear DNA of a variety of marsupials has shown that the South American monito del monte's lineage is the most basal of the superorder.
There are many different types of gliding possum, sometimes referred to as volplane possum, flying phalangers, or simply as gliders:
Glider may refer to:
The striped possum or common striped possum is a member of the marsupial family Petauridae. It is found mainly in New Guinea. The species is black with three white stripes running head to tail, and its head has white stripes that form a 'Y' shape. It is closely related to the sugar glider, and is similar in appearance.
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 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 genetic differences, obtained using diversity arrays technology, showed there were three species subsumed under this one name. The two new species were named Petauroides armillatus and Petauroides minor.
Steve Van Dyck is the Senior Curator of vertebrates at Queensland Museum, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
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.
Corymbia intermedia, commonly known as pink bloodwood, is a species of medium to tall tree that is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It has rough, tessellated bark on the trunk and branches, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and oval to barrel-shaped fruit.
The mountain brushtail possum, or southern bobuck, is a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae native to southeastern Australia. It was not described as a separate species until 2002.
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.
The savanna glider is a species of arboreal gliding possum in the genus Petaurus.
Krefft's glider is a species of arboreal nocturnal gliding possum, a type of small marsupial. It is native to most of eastern mainland Australia and has been introduced to Tasmania. Populations of Petaurus from New Guinea and Indonesia previously classified under P. breviceps are also tentatively classified under P. notatus by the American Society of Mammalogists, but likely represent a complex of distinct species. As most captive gliders referred to as "sugar gliders" in at least the United States are thought to originate from West Papua, this likely makes them Krefft's gliders, at least tentatively.
