Green Ringtail Possum

Taxobox
name = Green Ringtail PossumMSW3 Groves|pages=53]


status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2006|assessors=Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group|year=1996|id=18502|title=Pseudochirops archeri|downloaded=27 December 2006]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
infraclassis = Marsupialia
ordo = Diprotodontia
familia = Pseudocheiridae
subfamilia = Pseudochiropsinae
genus = "Pseudochirops"
species = "P. archeri"
binomial = "Pseudochirops archeri"
binomial_authority = (Collett, 1884)

The Green Ringtail Possum ("Pseudochirops archeri") is a species of ringtail possum found only in northern Australia. This makes it unique in its genus, all other members of which are found in New Guinea or nearby islands. The Green Ringtail Possum is found in a tiny area of northeastern Queensland, between Paluma and Mt Windsor Tableland.cite book | last = Menkhorst | first = Peter | year = 2001 | title = A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia | publisher = Oxford University Press | pages = 98]

The Green Ringtail Possum gets its name from its fur, which does indeed have a greenish tinge. In reality the fur is olive grey, but it is grizzled with silver, yellow and black hairs, which makes it appear green. It is nocturnal, solitary and arboreal, and feeds mostly on leaves. It is one of the few species that can eat the leaves of the stinger plant ("Dendrocnide moroides") which can cause extreme pain with casualties needing to be hospitalised.fact|date = November 2007 It also engages in a practice called coprophagy, where an animal eats its own faeces a second time.fact|date = November 2007

References

External links

* [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pseudochirops_archeri.html Green Ringtail Possum on Animal Diversity Web]