The Waigeou cuscus or Waigeou spotted cuscus (''Spilocuscus papuensis'') is a species 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 ...

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, ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the island of

Waigeo Waigeo is an island in Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi, or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands archipelago, between Halmahera and about to the north-w ...

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 ...

, and consequently the spelling Waigeo cuscus is often used instead of Waigeou cuscus. Unlike all other members of 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 ...

'', both genders are whitish with black spots. It remains fairly common, but its small range makes it vulnerable to

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 ...

and hunting.

References

Possums Mammals of Western New Guinea Mammals described in 1822 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Marsupials of New Guinea {{Diprotodont-stub