The Telefomin cuscus (''Phalanger matanim'') is a critically endangered
possum
Possum may refer to:
Animals
* Phalangeriformes, or possums, any of a number of arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi
** Common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula''), a common possum in Australian urban a ...
found on
New Guinea.
It is named after the
Telefol ethnic group, who hunted the animal long before it was identified scientifically by the
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 ...
n
zoologist Tim Flannery. It is believed to live only in the extremely restricted range of one valley's oak forests at altitudes between 1500 and 2000 m along a single river in the middle of Papua New Guinea: the
Nong River
Nong may refer to:
*Nong, Iran, a village in Hormozgan Province, Iran
* Nong District, a district of Savannakhet Province, Laos
*The Nung people of Vietnam, or the Nong 农 branch of the Zhuang people of Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefectu ...
Valley north of Telefomin. After 1997's drought, extremely cold weather ("bitter frosts") which killed the trees, and resulting wildfires, these forests were destroyed, which Flannery believes might have resulted in the species' extinction.
Habitat
This cuscus can or has been found in the areas of
Telefomin and
Tifalmin, and
Papua New Guinea. It might be found even further northeast or west of the known collection areas. The only place where it is known with certainty was largely destroyed by a fire in 1998 which was caused by a drought during an
El Niño.
[
]
References
Possums
Mammals of Papua New Guinea
Mammals described in 1987
Marsupials of New Guinea
Taxa named by Tim Flannery
{{Diprotodont-stub