The Acrobatidae are a small family of

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...

s containing two genera, each with a single species, the

feathertail glider The feathertail glider (''Acrobates pygmaeus''), also known as the pygmy gliding possum, pygmy glider, pygmy phalanger, flying phalanger and flying mouse, is a species of marsupial native to eastern Australia. It is the world's smallest gliding ...

(''Acrobates pygmaeus'') from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

feather-tailed possum The feather-tailed possum (''Distoechurus pennatus'') is a species of marsupial in the family Acrobatidae. It is found in West Papua and Papua New Guinea. It is not to be confused with the feathertail glider, the only other species in the famil ...

(''Distoechurus pennatus'') from

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. This family of the order Diprotodontia, which can be found in the east coast and inland of Australia and in some islands of New Guinea, is characterized by their very small size, which has side effects: because their mass-to-surface-area ratio is so small, heat escapes quicker from their bodies than it would in larger animals (the larger the mass-to-surface-area ratio, the harder it is to get rid of heat). Therefore, when temperature drops or food is scarce, they have trouble maintaining their body temperature and they enter a state known as torpidity (not to be confused with

hibernation Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It most ...

, which is not known in marsupials) which can last between one day and two weeks. In this state, the animal's breathing slows down, its temperature drops to almost that of its surroundings, and the animal becomes unresponsive.

Taxonomy

* Family Acrobatidae ** Genus ''Acrobates'' ***

Feathertail glider The feathertail glider (''Acrobates pygmaeus''), also known as the pygmy gliding possum, pygmy glider, pygmy phalanger, flying phalanger and flying mouse, is a species of marsupial native to eastern Australia. It is the world's smallest gliding ...

, ''Acrobates pygmaeus'' ** Genus ''Distoechurus'' ***

Feather-tailed possum The feather-tailed possum (''Distoechurus pennatus'') is a species of marsupial in the family Acrobatidae. It is found in West Papua and Papua New Guinea. It is not to be confused with the feathertail glider, the only other species in the famil ...

, ''Distoechurus pennatus''

References

* Possums Mammal families {{Diprotodont-stub