The blue-eyed spotted cuscus or Biak spotted cuscus (''Spilocuscus wilsoni'') is a species of critically endangered

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 ...

in the family

Phalangeridae The Phalangeridae are a family of mostly nocturnal marsupials native to Australia, New Guinea, and Eastern Indonesia, including the cuscuses, brushtail possums, and their close relatives. Considered a type of possum, most species are arboreal, ...

Taxonomy

The blue-eyed spotted cuscus is one of five species of spotted cuscus in the genus ''

Spilocuscus ''Spilocuscus'' is a genus of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. Its members are found on the Cape York Peninsula of Australia, New Guinea, and smaller nearby islands. It contains the following species: *Admiralty Island cuscus, ''Spilocusc ...

''.

Description

The blue-eyed spotted cuscus has a pale marbled coat with shades of brown, grey, and white with a creamy white underbelly. This species is relatively smaller in size than the other ''Spilocuscus'' cuscuses and has distinct pale blue eyes.

Distribution and habitat

The blue-eyed spotted cuscus can be found on several of the islands in the

Cenderawasih Bay Cenderawasih Bay ( id, Teluk Cenderawasih, "Bird of Paradise Bay"), also known as Sarera Bay ( id, Teluk Sarera) and formerly Geelvink Bay ( nl, Geelvinkbaai), is a large bay in northern Province of Papua, Central Papua and West Papua, New Guine ...

in West Papua of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. This region is made up of the islands

Biak Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and c ...

, Supiori, and

Numfor Numfor (also Numfoor, Noemfoor, Noemfoer) is one of the Schouten Islands (also known as the Biak Islands) in Papua province, northeastern Indonesia. It was the site of conflict between Japanese and the Allied forces during World War II, and was ...

. Despite being endemic to the islands

and Supiori, the blue-eyed spotted cuscus have been spotted on the island of

as pets. This cuscus lives in the treetops of the tropical rainforests found throughout Supiori and

. Due to the rugged terrain common on the

Supiori Island Supiori is an island of the Schouten Islands archipelago in Cenderawasih Bay, just west of Biak island in Papua Province, Western New Guinea, northeastern Indonesia. Description The island has a rugged terrain, largely covered in tropical rain ...

, it is better insulated from human foot traffic and allows for a more flourishing population than that on

Conservation

The major threats to the blue-eyed spotted cuscus include

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

, and collection for the

exotic pet An exotic pet is a pet which is relatively rare or unusual to keep, or is generally thought of as a wild species rather than as a domesticated pet. The definition varies by culture, location, and over time—as animals become firmly enough esta ...

trade by locals. Due to its rarity, the blue-eyed spotted cuscus was only scientifically described in 2004 and was deemed critically endangered by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

in 2015. Recent surveys have failed to find any wild individuals from

and, more recently,

. Currently, there are no widespread conservation efforts dedicated to protecting this species. However, 12% of its ecoregion (344km²) has been classified as protected between the three islands.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1957745 Possums Mammals of Western New Guinea Mammals described in 2004 Endemic fauna of the Biak–Numfoor rain forests Marsupials of New Guinea