Pygmy possum

Taxobox
name = Pygmy possumsMSW3 Groves|pages=44-45]
fossil_range=Pleistocene - Recent

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image_caption = Eastern Pygmy Possum ("Cercartetus nanus")
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
infraclassis = Marsupialia
ordo = Diprotodontia
familia = Burramyidae
familia_authority = Broom, 1898
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = "Burramys"
"Cercartetus"

The pygmy possums are species of small possums that together form the marsupial family Burramyidae. There are five extant species of pygmy possum, grouped into two genera. Four of the species are endemic to Australia, with one species also co-occurring in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

Pygmy possums range in length from about 50 to 120 millimetres long, and usually weigh between 10 and 50 grams. They are nocturnal and omnivorous, living on a diet of invertebrates, fruit, seed, nectar and pollen. They are excellent climbers, due in part to their possession of a prehensile tail. Although they cannot glide like some other species of possum, some species are able to leap a long distance. [cite book|author=Turner, Vivienne and McKay, G. M.|chapter=27. Burramyidae|editor=Walton, D.W. and Richardson, B. J. (eds)|year=1989|title=Fauna of Australia, Volume 1B: Mammalia|location=Canberra|publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service|id=ISBN 0-644-06056-5]

Conservation International (CI) and the Indonesia Institute of Science (LIPI) reported on the possible discovery of a new species of "Cercartetus" pygmy possum upon visit to the Foja Mountains in June 2007. [ [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gIZKPUU8Exc9IE9l5e9dMc70BxHw Afp.google.com, Two new mammals found in Indonesian 'lost world': green group] ]

Classification

There are two genera of pygmy possums: "Burramys" and "Cercartetus". "Burramys" contains only one extant species, the Mountain Pygmy Possum, "Burramys parvus". As currently understood, "Cercartetus" consists of four extant species.

* Family Burramyidae: pygmy possums
** Genus "Burramys"
*** Mountain Pygmy Possum, "Burramys parvus"
*** †"Burramys wakefieldi"
*** †"Burramys tridactylus"
*** †"Burramys brutyi"
** Genus "Cercartetus"
*** Long-tailed Pygmy Possum, "Cercartetus caudatus"
*** Western Pygmy Possum, "Cercartetus concinnus"
*** Tasmanian Pygmy Possum, "Cercartetus lepidus"
*** Eastern Pygmy Possum, "Cercartetus nanus"

† = extinct species.

Gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/Metazoa/Deuterostoma/Chordata/Synapsida/Metatheria/Notometatheria/Diprotodontia/Phalangeriformes.htm Mikko's Phylogeny Archive]