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phalangeriformes

{{short description|Suborder of arboreal marsupials}}

{{Use Australian English|date=July 2013}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}

{{Paraphyletic group

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Oligocene|present}}

| image = Phalangeriformes.jpg

| image_caption =

| auto = yes

| taxon = Phalangeriformes

| authority = Szalay in Archer, 1982

| includes =

| excludes =

}}

Phalangeriformes {{IPAc-en|f|@|ˈ|l|ae|n|dZ|@r|ᵻ|f|ɔr|m|iː|z}} is a paraphyletic{{Cite journal|last1=Eldridge|first1=Mark D B|last2=Beck|first2=Robin M D|last3=Croft|first3=Darin A|last4=Travouillon|first4=Kenny J|last5=Fox|first5=Barry J|date=2019-05-23|title=An emerging consensus in the evolution, phylogeny, and systematics of marsupials and their fossil relatives (Metatheria)|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyz018|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|volume=100|issue=3|pages=802–837|doi=10.1093/jmammal/gyz018|issn=0022-2372}} suborder of about 70 species of small to medium-sized arboreal marsupials native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi.{{MSW3 Diprotodontia | heading= Suborder Phalangeriformes | id = 11000015 | pages = 44–56}} The species are commonly known as possums, opossums,{{Cite OED|opossum|8236326670}} gliders, and cuscus. The common name "(o)possum" for various Phalangeriformes species derives from the creatures' resemblance to the opossums of the Americas (the term comes from Powhatan language aposoum "white animal", from Proto-Algonquian *wa·p-aʔɬemwa "white dog").{{cite encyclopedia | last=Siebert | first=Frank T. Jr. |editor-last=Crawford |editor-first=James Mack |date=1975 |encyclopedia=Studies in Southeastern Indian Languages |title=Resurrecting Virginia Algonquian from the Dead: The Reconstituted and Historical Phonology of Powhatan |publisher=University of Georgia Press}} However, although opossums are also marsupials, Australasian possums are more closely related to other Australasian marsupials such as kangaroos.

Phalangeriformes are quadrupedal diprotodont marsupials with long tails. The smallest species, indeed the smallest diprotodont marsupial, is the Tasmanian pygmy possum, with an adult head-body length of {{convert|70|mm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} and a weight of {{convert|10|g|oz|frac=8|abbr=on}}. The largest are the two species of bear cuscus, which may exceed {{convert|7|kg|lboz|abbr=on}}. Phalangeriformes species are typically nocturnal and at least partially arboreal. They inhabit most vegetated habitats, and several species have adjusted well to urban settings. Diets range from generalist herbivores or omnivores (the common brushtail possum) to specialist browsers of eucalyptus (greater glider), insectivores (mountain pygmy possum) and nectar-feeders (honey possum).

Classification

{{main|List of phalangeriformes}}

File:Eastern Pygmy Possum Pilliga Forest NSW.jpg, Pilliga forest, NSW]]

File:Ailurops ursinus Naemundung 2 North Sulawesi.jpg]]

File:Southern Brown Cuscus, photo by CNZdenek & AJBurnett.jpg, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland]]

File:Phalanger maculatus (male) - Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria - Genoa, Italy - DSC03051.JPG, Genoa]]

File:Ringtail Possum. Brisbane.jpg, Brisbane]]

File:PhalangistaHerbertensisSmit.jpg, 1884]]

File:Striped Possum JCB.jpg, Crater Lakes National Park, Queensland]]

File:Sugar Gliders eating Mealworms.jpgs at mealtime]]

File:Feathertail glider, Acrobates pygmaeus (Tony Rees photograph).jpg]]

About two-thirds of Australian marsupials belong to the order Diprotodontia, which is split into three suborders, namely the Vombatiformes (wombats and the koala, four species in total); the large and diverse Phalangeriformes (the possums and gliders) and Macropodiformes (kangaroos, potoroos, wallabies and the musky rat-kangaroo). Note: this classification is based on Ruedas & Morales 2005.{{clarification needed|reason=This reference seems to be about the arrangement of genera in Phalangeridae and its subfamilies (I can't access the full text of the article, though). If so this statement about the classification is misleading.|date=March 2021}} However, Phalangeriformes has been recovered as paraphyletic with respect to Macropodiformes, rendering the latter a subset of the former if Phalangeriformes are to be considered a natural group.{{Cite journal|last1=Warburton|first1=Natalie M.|last2=Prideaux|first2=Gavin J.|title=The skeleton of Congruus kitcheneri, a semiarboreal kangaroo from the Pleistocene of southern Australia|journal=Royal Society Open Science|year=2021|volume=8|issue=3|pages=202216|doi=10.1098/rsos.202216|pmid=33959368|pmc=8074921|bibcode=2021RSOS....802216W|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Eldridge|first1=Mark D B|last2=Beck|first2=Robin M D|last3=Croft|first3=Darin A|last4=Travouillon|first4=Kenny J|last5=Fox|first5=Barry J|date=2019-05-23|title=An emerging consensus in the evolution, phylogeny, and systematics of marsupials and their fossil relatives (Metatheria)|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyz018|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|volume=100|issue=3|pages=802–837|doi=10.1093/jmammal/gyz018|issn=0022-2372}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • [http://www.australiazoo.com.au/our-animals/amazing-animals/mammals/?mammal=possums_and_gliders Possums and Gliders] – Australia Zoo
  • [http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/09/07/2041855.htm Urban Possums] – ABC (Science), Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  • {{cite journal |last1=Ruedas |first1=L.A. |last2=Morales |first2=J.C. |title=Evolutionary relationships among genera of Phalangeridae (Metatheria: Diprotodontia) inferred from mitochondrial data |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=86 |issue=2 |pages=353–365 |year=2005 |doi=10.1644/BER-117.1 |jstor=4094355 |doi-access=free }}
  • [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/2858 Possums or Opossums?] on Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

{{Phalangerida|P.|state=collapsed}}

{{Diprotodontia}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q279198}}

Category:Marsupials of Oceania

Category:Extant Oligocene first appearances

Category:Diprotodonts

Category:Paraphyletic groups