Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Cladus: Synapsida
Cladus: Eupelycosauria
Cladus: Sphenacodontia
Cladus: Sphenacodontoidea
Cladus: Therapsida
Cladus: Theriodontia
Cladus: Cynodontia
Cladus: Eucynodontia
Cladus: Probainognathia
Cladus: Prozostrodontia
Cladus: Mammaliaformes
Classis: Mammalia
Cladus: Theriimorpha
Cladus: Theriiformes
Cladus: Trechnotheria
Cladus: Zatheria
Subclassis: Theria
Cladus: Metatheria
Cladus: Marsupialiformes
Infraclassis: Marsupialia
Cladus: Australidelphia
Cladus: Eomarsupialia
Ordo: Diprotodontia
Subordo: Phalangeriformes
Superfamilia: Petauroidea
Familia: Petauridae
Genera (3): Dactylopsila - Gymnobelideus - Petaurus
Name
Petauridae Bonaparte, 1838: 113 ["Petaurina"]
References
Primary references
Bonaparte, C.L. 1838. Synopsis vertebratorum systematis. Nuovi Annali delle Scienze Naturali. Bologna. 2: 105–133. BHL Reference page.
Additional references
Groves, C.P. 2005. Dasyuromorphia. Pp. 23–37 in Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.M. (eds.) . Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore. 2 volumes. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. Reference page.
Jackson, S. & Groves, C. 2015. Taxonomy of Australian Mammals. CSIRO Publishing: Clayton. 529 pp. ISBN 978-1-486-30012-9. Reference page.
Vernacular names
Deutsch: Gleitbeutler
English: Gliders
suomi: Pussiliito-oravat
日本語: フクロモモンガ科
Nederlands: Buideleekhoorns
Türkçe: Uçar kuskusgiller
中文: 袋鼯科
Petauridae is a family of possums containing 11 species: four species of trioks and striped possum (genus Dactylopsila), six species of wrist-winged glider (genus Petaurus), and Leadbeater's possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri), 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.
Evolution
All petaurids have obvious facial markings, a well-defined dorsal stripe, very large lower front incisors, and four-cusped molars. Despite their distinctive appearance, petaurids are closely related to the ringtail possums (family Pseudocheiridae) and are grouped together with them to form the superfamily Petauroidea.
The wrist-winged gliders are omnivorous, specialising on sap and nectar, but taking a wide variety of supplemental foods. The gliders appears to have evolved in the open forests of Australia—gliding membranes are an adaptation which aids mobility when the forest canopy is incomplete, and are of little use in rainforests— but now has representatives in New Guinea and many of the smaller islands nearby. Their similarities to the unrelated flying squirrels are an example of convergent evolution.
The striped possums, on the other hand, are thought to have evolved on New Guinea; the sole Australian species (the striped possum of Cape York) is considered a recent immigrant. All members of this genus are insectivores, and have specialised structures for catching insects: a heel-like structure on the wrist that is thought to be used to tap on wood to locate insect larvae, and an elongated fourth finger to extract them from their burrows.
Taxonomy
The listing for extant species is based on The Third edition of Wilson & Reeder's Mammal Species of the World (2005), except where the Mammal Diversity Database and IUCN agree on a change. The family consists of the following three genera and 11 species:
Genus Dactylopsila
Great-tailed triok, Dactylopsila megalura
Long-fingered triok, Dactylopsila palpator
Tate's triok, Dactylopsila tatei
Striped possum, Dactylopsila trivirgata
Genus Gymnobelideus
Leadbeater's possum, Gymnobelideus leadbeateri
Genus Petaurus
Northern glider, Petaurus abidi
Yellow-bellied glider, Petaurus australis
Biak glider, Petaurus biacensis
Sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps
Mahogany glider, Petaurus gracilis
Squirrel glider, Petaurus norfolcensis
References
Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 53–55. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
Further reading
Douch, Jk; Devlin, Jm; Whiteley, P; Hartley, Ca; Vaz, Pk (2022-08-30). "Molecular detection of two new putative species of gammaherpesvirus in petaurid possums". Australian Veterinary Journal. 100 (11): 562–565. doi:10.1111/avj.13202. ISSN 0005-0423. PMC 9804373. PMID 36042563. S2CID 251952104.
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