The striped possum or common striped possum (''Dactylopsila trivirgata'') is a member of the

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 ...

family

Petauridae Petauridae is a family of possums containing 13 species: four species of trioks and striped possum (genus ''Dactylopsila''), eight species of wrist-winged glider (genus ''Petaurus''), and Leadbeater's possum (''Gymnobelideus leadbeateri''), whi ...

. it is found mainly in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

. The species is black with three white stripes running head to tail, and its head has white stripes that form a 'Y' shape. It is closely related to the

sugar glider The sugar glider (''Petaurus breviceps'') is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass. The common name refers to its predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ab ...

, and is similar in appearance.

Taxonomy

The striped possum was first described by

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoology, zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ...

in 1858 from a specimen sent from the

Aru Islands The Aru Islands Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Aru) is a group of about 95 low-lying islands in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It also forms a regency of Maluku Province, with a land area of . At the 2011 Census the Regency had a p ...

(in

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 ...

) to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

by Alfred Russel Wallace. Gray gave the species the name ''Dactylopsila trivirgata'' in 1858, the name the species retains today. The illustration that appeared alongside the first description was produced by

Joseph Wolf Joseph Wolf (22 January 1820 – 20 April 1899) was a German artist who specialized in natural history illustration. He moved to the British Museum in 1848 and became the preferred illustrator for explorers and naturalists including David Liv ...

Range

The striped possum is most commonly found in

as well as several other small islands in the area (including the Solomon Islands). It also lives in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia, in rainforests and

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', '' Allo ...

woodland along the east coast of

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

and as far south as

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 30 ...

, but is uncommon and rarely seen in Australia.Marlow (1981), p. 80.

Description

This possum looks like a black and white squirrel. It is solitary, mostly nocturnal,

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose num ...

, and builds nests in tree branches. The body length is approx. 263 mm long, tail 325 mm, and weight 423 g. The striped possum's tail is

prehensile Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ that has adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term ''prehendere'', meaning "to grasp". The ability to grasp is likely derived from a number of different origi ...

. Its fourth finger is elongated relative to the others (like the third finger of the

aye-aye The aye-aye (''Daubentonia madagascariensis'') is a long-fingered lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar with rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow and a special thin middle finger. It is the world's largest nocturnal primate. ...

, a

lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madaga ...

found in Malagasy rainforests) and is used to take

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s and

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larva, larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterfly, butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawfly ...

s from tree bark, making it a "mammalian woodpecker". Its main diet consists of wood-boring insect

larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. T ...

, which are extracted from rotten branches probing with its elongated fourth finger and its powerful

incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, w ...

teeth which are used to rip open tree bark to expose insects. It detects the larvae by a rapid drumming along branches with the toes of its forefoot. The fourth finger has an unusual hooked nail which it uses to extract insects out of cracks.Drury (1981), p. 71. The striped possum also eats leaves, fruits, and small

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxon, taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with vertebral column, backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the ...

s.McKay, G. (Ed.). (1999). ''Mammals'' (p. 60). San Francisco: Weldon Owen Inc. It emits a "very powerful unpleasant smell." It is noisy and growls. During the day it curls up on an exposed branch and sleeps.Ryan and Burwell (2000), p. 339. The female striped possum has two teats in her pouch and can give birth to up to two young. However, not a lot is known of its breeding habits. It is most easily found by the sound it makes chewing and drinking in the forest. The striped possum is one of the least known marsupials. The species is not considered to be threatened.

Footnotes

References

*Drury, Susan (1981) ''Native Animals of Australia''. Macmillan Pocket Guide. Macmillan Company of Australia, Melbourne, Victoria. . * Marlow, Basil (1981). ''Marsupials of Australia''. Amended edition. First published in 1962. Hesperian Press, Victoria Park, Western Australia. * Ryan, Michelle and Chris Burwell, editors (2000). ''Wildlife of Tropical North Queensland''. Queensland Museum, Brisbane. . *

External links

rainforest-australia.com/striped_possum.htm

{{Taxonbar, from=Q210088 Possums Marsupials of Australia Marsupials of New Guinea Mammals of Indonesia Mammals of Papua New Guinea Mammals of Queensland Mammals of Western New Guinea Least concern biota of Oceania Mammals described in 1858 Taxa named by John Edward Gray