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

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

family Petauridae. It is found mainly in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. 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, and is similar in appearance.

Taxonomy

The striped possum was first described by

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for a z ...

in 1858 from a specimen sent from the Aru Islands (in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

) to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...

. 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.

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 Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia, in rainforests and

eucalypt Eucalypt is any woody plant with Capsule (fruit), capsule fruiting bodies belonging to one of seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

woodland along the east coast of Cape York Peninsula and as far south as

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

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

Description

This possum looks like a black and white

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying 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 (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

, 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. 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 Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar with rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow and a special thin middle finger that they can use to catch grubs ...

, a

lemur Lemurs ( ; from Latin ) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea ( ), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are Endemism, ...

found in Malagasy rainforests) and is used to take

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s and

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

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

larvae A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect developmental biology, development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typical ...

, which are extracted from rotten branches probing with its elongated fourth finger and its powerful incisor 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 () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

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