The brushtail possums are the members of the genus ''Trichosurus'' in the

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, ...

, a family of

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. They are native to

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 ...

(including

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

) and some small nearby islands. Unique among marsupials, they have shifted the

hypaxial In adult vertebrates, trunk muscles can be broadly divided into hypaxial muscles, which lie ventral to the horizontal septum of the vertebrae and epaxial muscles, which lie dorsal to the septum. Hypaxial muscles include some vertebral muscles, the ...

muscles from the

epipubic Epipubic bones are a pair of bones projecting forward from the pelvic bones of modern marsupials, monotremes and fossil mammals like multituberculates, and even basal eutherians (the ancestors of placental mammals, who lack them). They first occ ...

to the

pelvis The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton). The ...

, much like in

placental Placental mammals (infraclass Placentalia ) are one of the three extant subdivisions of the class Mammalia, the other two being Monotremata and Marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsup ...

muscles, meaning that their

breathing Breathing (or ventilation) is the process of moving air into and from the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the internal environment, mostly to flush out carbon dioxide and bring in oxygen. All aerobic creatures need oxygen for cellular ...

cycle is more similar to the latter than to that of other non-

eutheria Eutheria (; from Greek , 'good, right' and , 'beast'; ) is the clade consisting of all therian mammals that are more closely related to placentals than to marsupials. Eutherians are distinguished from noneutherians by various phenotypic tra ...

n mammals.Reilly SM, McElroy EJ, White TD, Biknevicius AR, Bennett MB, Abdominal muscle and epipubic bone function during locomotion in Australian possums: insights to basal mammalian conditions and Eutherian-like tendencies in Trichosurus, J Morphol. 2010 Apr;271(4):438-50. . In general, they are more terrestrially oriented than other possums, and in some ways might parallel

primates Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

. The genus contains these species: *

Northern brushtail possum The northern brushtail possum (''Trichosurus arnhemensis'') is a nocturnal marsupial inhabiting northern Australia. The northern brushtail possum is sometimes considered a species, however more often than not is considered a subspecies of the c ...

, ''T. arnhemensis'' *

Short-eared possum The short-eared possum (''Trichosurus caninus'') is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae endemic to Australia. Found north of Sydney, the species was once classed as a mountain brushtail possum The mountain brushtail possum, or ...

, ''T. caninus'' *

Mountain brushtail possum The mountain brushtail possum, or southern bobuck (''Trichosurus cunninghami''), is a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae native to southeastern Australia. It was not described as a separate species until 2002. Taxon ...

, ''T. cunninghami'' *

Coppery brushtail possum The coppery brushtail possum (''Trichosurus johnstonii'') is a species of marsupial possum in the family Phalangeridae. Coppery brushtails are found within the Atherton Tablelands area of Queensland, in northeastern Australia. These mammals inh ...

, ''T. johnstonii'' *

Common brushtail possum The common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula'', from the Greek for "furry tailed" and the Latin for "little fox", previously in the genus ''Phalangista'') is a nocturnal, semiarboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, native to Austr ...

, ''T. vulpecula''

Gallery

Northen brushtail possum.jpg, Northern brushtail possum (''T. arnhemensis'') Trichosurus caninus Gould.jpg, Short-eared possum (''T. caninus'') Coppery Brushtail Possum (3625102158).jpg, Coppery brushtail possum (''T. johnstonii'') Brushtail Possum- Grampians National Park.jpg, Common brushtail possum (''T. vulpecula'')

References

Possums Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Diprotodont-stub