Bear cuscus

Bear cuscuses[1]
Sulawesi bear cuscus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Phalangeridae
Subfamily: Ailuropinae
Flannery, Archer and Maynes, 1987
Genus: Ailurops
Wagler, 1830
Type species
Phalangista ursina
Temminck, 1824
Species

The bear cuscuses are the members of the genus Ailurops.[1] They are marsupials of the family Phalangeridae.[1]

The bear cuscuses are arboreal marsupials that live in the upper canopy of tropical rainforests. Almost nothing is known of their status and ecology.[2][3] Although some scientists assign all populations to one species, A. ursinus, others place melanotis as its own species.[1] The genus is distinct, though, and some authorities place it within its own subfamily, Ailuropinae.[1] It is found only on some of the islands of Indonesia (e.g., Sulawesi), which are culturally part of Asia, where marsupials are generally not found but which are biogeographically part of the Australasian ecozone. It is hypothesized that the isolation of the bear cuscuses on the island of Sulawesi in the Miocene accounts for the animal's morphological divergence from the rest of the Phalangeridae family.

The genus contains the following species:[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Groves, C. P. (2005). "Genus Ailurops". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ↑ "Ailurops ursinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2007. International Union for Conservation of Nature. 1996. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
  3. ↑ Flannery, T. & Helgen, K. (2008). Ailurops melanotis. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2008-11-24.