Telefomin Cuscus

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Telefomin Cuscus
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Subclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Phalangeridae
Genus: Phalanger
Species: P. matanim
Binomial name
Phalanger matanim
Flannery, 1987

The Telefomin Cuscus (Phalanger matanim) is a possum found on New Guinea.

It is named after the Telefol ethnic group, who knew the animal long before it was discovered scientifically by the Australian zoologist Tim Flannery. It lives in the oak forests along the Nong River in the middle of Papua New Guinea, at altitudes between 1500 and 2000m. After the drought and wildfires of 1997 these forests were destroyed, which probably made the species extinct.

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