| Savanna glider | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Illustration by John Gould | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | Petauridae |
| Genus: | Petaurus |
| Species: | P. ariel |
| Binomial name | |
| Petaurus ariel (Gould, 1842) | |
The savanna glider (Petaurus ariel) is a species of arboreal gliding possum in the genus Petaurus . [1]
It was long considered a subspecies of the sugar glider (P. breviceps), but a 2020 study split P. breviceps into 3 distinct species, with P. ariel being found to represent one of these distinct species. [2] [3]
The Bininj of western Arnhem Land, Australia call this animal lambalk in their Kunwinjku language. [4] [5]
The species somewhat resembles a small squirrel glider (P. norfolcensis) with a pointed nose. It displays substantial body size variation throughout its range; in the northern, more coastal portions, it is small enough to be considered the smallest of all Australian Petaurus. However, in the arid inland parts of its range to the south, it can grow to be twice as large. [2]
The species lives in the wooded savannas of northern Australia. It ranges from northwestern Queensland west through the Northern Territory (including most of the Cobourg Peninsula) to northern Western Australia. [2] [6]
In Arnhem Land, breeding is not seasonally restricted and young may be born throughout the year. [7]
The species is threatened by heavy declines that have been reported to have affected many other small, tree-dwelling mammal species in northern Australia. One study found that the species has undergone a 35% range reduction over the past 3 decades, and is disappearing from inland areas. These declines are thought to be linked to feral cats, changed fire regimes, and feral herbivores. [6] Another study of the Northern Territory populations found a 32% reduction in the species’ extent of occurrence and a 42% reduction in the breadth of occupied environmental space, with a significant contraction towards areas of lower fire frequency. [8]
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.
Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km (106 mi) southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded living there in the 2016 Australian census.
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.
The northern quoll, also known as the northern native cat, the North Australian native cat or the satanellus is a carnivorous marsupial native to Australia.
The mahogany glider is an endangered gliding possum native to a small region of coastal Queensland in Australia.
Allosyncarpia ternata, commonly known as an-binik, is a species of rainforest trees constituting part of the botanical family Myrtaceae and included in the eucalypts group. The only species in its genus, it was described in 1981 by Stanley Blake of the Queensland Herbarium. They grow naturally into large, spreading, shady trees, and are endemic to the Northern Territory of Australia. They grow in sandstone gorges along creeks emerging from the Arnhem Land plateau.
The fawn antechinus is a species of small carnivorous marsupial found in northern Australia. It is the only Antechinus to be found in the Northern Territory and has a patchy, restricted range.
The rock-haunting ringtail possum, also known as the rock ringtail possum, is a species of Australian possum. It is found in rocky escarpments in the Kimberley, Arnhem Land and Gulf of Carpentaria across Western Australia and Northern Territory and just passing the Queensland border. It is also found on Groote Eylandt. It is the only species in the genus Petropseudes, but is part of the group including the common ringtail possum.
The spectacled hare-wallaby is a species of macropod found in Australia and New Guinea. In Australia, a small sub-population is found on Barrow Island, while the mainland type is widespread, though in decline, across northern regions of the country.
The agile wallaby, also known as the sandy wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It is the most common wallaby in north Australia. The agile wallaby is a sandy colour, becoming paler below. It is sometimes solitary and at other times sociable and grazes on grasses and other plants. The agile wallaby is not considered threatened.
The black wallaroo, also known as Woodward's wallaroo, is a species of macropod restricted to a small, mountainous area in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, between South Alligator River and Nabarlek. It classified as near threatened, mostly due to its limited distribution. A large proportion of the range is protected by Kakadu National Park.
The dusky rat is an indigenous species of rodent in the family Muridae found in Australia.
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 ; there is still uncertainty regarding its status as a distinct species.
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 earliest fossils from this superfamily are from the Oligocene of the Geilston Bay fossil site in Tasmania.
The Arnhem Land tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in Australia's Northern Territory.
The Victoria Plains tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northwestern Australia.
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.