Yellow-bellied Glider

Taxobox
name = Yellow-bellied GliderMSW3 Groves|pages=54-55]


status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2006 | assessors = Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group | year = 1996 | title = Petaurus australis | id = 16730 | downloaded = 2006-11-21]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
infraclassis = Marsupialia
ordo = Diprotodontia
familia = Petauridae
genus = "Petaurus"
species = "P. australis"
binomial = "Petaurus australis"
binomial_authority = Shaw, 1791

The Yellow-bellied Glider "(Petaurus australis)", also known as the Fluffy Glider, is about the size of a rabbit, and has a grey-brown back and is off-white to orange underneath, with large pointed ears and a long tail. [cite book | author = Cronin, Leonard and Westmacott, Marion (illustrator) | title = Key Guide to Australian Mammals | year = 1991 | pages = pp. 64-65 | publisher = Reed Books Pty. Ltd. | id = ISBN 0-7301-0355-2]

The Yellow-bellied Glider is the largest species of "Petaurus", and can glide up to 150 metres. [cite book | author = Jones, Cath & Parish, Steve | title = Field Guide to Australian Mammals | pages = pp. 86, 88 | publisher = Steve Parish Publishing Pty. Ltd. | id = ISBN 1-74021-743-8]

It is similar in appearance to the Mahogany Glider, although slightly larger in size, and also similar in appearance to the Greater Glider. [cite book | author = Menkhorst, Peter and Knight, Frank | title = A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia | year = 2001 | pages = pp. 94-95 | publisher = Oxford University Press | id = ISBN 0-19-550870-X]

The Yellow-bellied Glider is and spends the day in a leaf-lined tree hole, which is usually shared with other Yellow-bellied Gliders.

Although the Yellow-bellied Glider has a narrow range down eastern Australia, reaching from northern Queensland to Victoria, it's status is classified as uncommon to rare, and it is vulnerable in the topics.

The Yellow-belled Glider's diet consists of nectar, honeydew, insects, pollen and Eucalyptus sap (which is obtained by the Yellow-bellied Glider biting a 'V' shape wedge into the bark to promote the flow of gum and sap). [cite book | author = Strahan, Ronald | title = A Photographic Guide to Mammals of Australia | year = 1995 | pages = p. 58 | publisher = The Australian Museum, New Holland (Publishers) Ltd. | id = ISBN 1-85368-583-6]

Breeding occurs in spring in the south, but throughout the year in the north.

There are two subspecies:
* "P. a. australis" in the south (which is locally common)
* "P. a. reginae" in northern Queensland (which is rare and threatened with logging)

Threats

Barbed-wire fences and felling of old nest trees. [cite book | editor = Ryan, Michelle (General Editor), and Burwell, Chris (Scientific Editor) | title = Wildlife of Tropical North Queensland | pages = p.338 | publisher = Queensland Museum | id = ISBN 0-7242-9349-3]

References

External links

* [http://threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10601 Yellow-bellied Glider] — Threatened species — Government of New South Wales website
* [http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Yellow-bellied+glider+vulnerable+species+listing Yellow-bellied Glider] — Vulnerable species — National Parks and Wildlife Service
* [http://www.wildlife.org.au/wildlife-gliders.php?page=w-gliders-yellowbellied.html Yellow-bellied Glider] — Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland
* [http://www.wildlife.org.au/wildlife.php?page=w-gliders1.html Gliders in the Spotlight] — Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland
* [http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/forest/animals/yell_glider.html Yellow-bellied Glider] - Museum Victoria
* [http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/PDFs/recoveryplan_final_yellowbellied_glider.pdf Yellow-bellied Glider] — Recovery plan — National Parks and Wildlife Service (.pdf file — file is 32 pages long)