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.
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 mahogany glider is an endangered gliding possum native to a small region of coastal Queensland in Australia.
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 Torricelli Mountains are a mountain range in Sandaun Province, north-western Papua New Guinea. The highest peak in the range is Mount Sulen at 1650 meters. The Bewani Mountains are located to the west, and the Prince Alexander Mountains are located to the east. To the north, the mountains slope down to the Pacific Ocean, and to the south lies the basin of the Sepik River. Named after the Italian physicist and mathematician Evangelista Torricelli during the German colonial period.
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 black-tailed dasyure is a species of marsupial in the family Dasyuridae.
The narrow-striped dasyure or narrow-striped marsupial shrew is a species of marsupial in the family Dasyuridae found in West Papua and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.
The great-tailed triok is a species of marsupial in the family Petauridae. It is found in West Papua and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.
The long-fingered triok is a species of marsupial in the family Petauridae. It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Tate's triok, also known as the Fergusson Island striped possum, is a species of marsupial in the family Petauridae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.
The feather-tailed possum is a species of marsupial in the family Acrobatidae. It is found in West Papua and Papua New Guinea. It is not to be confused with the feathertail glider, the only other species in the family Acrobatidae.
Macleay's dorcopsis, also known as the Papuan dorcopsis or the Papuan forest wallaby, is a species of marsupial in the family Macropodidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea, where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forest]. Being little threatened by habitat destruction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as being of "least concern".
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.
Northern glider may refer to:
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.
