Bear cuscus
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| Bear cuscuses[1] | ||||||||||||||
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| Phalangista ursina Temminck, 1824 |
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The bear cuscuses are the members of the genus Ailurops.[1] They are marsupials in the Phalangeridae family.[1]
The bear cuscuses are arboreal marsupials that live in the upper canopy of tropical rainforests.[citation needed] Almost nothing is known of their status and ecology.[2] Although some scientists assign all populations to one species, A. ursinus, others place melanotis as its own species.[1] The genus is distinct, though, and some authorities place it within its own subfamily, Ailuropinae.[1] It is found only on some of the islands of Indonesia, which is a part of Asia, where marsupials are generally not found. It is hypothesized that the isolation of the bear cuscuses on the island of Sulawesi in the Miocene accounts for the animal's morphological divergence from the rest of the Phalangeridae family.[citation needed]
The genus contains the following species:[1]
- Talaud Bear Cuscus, Ailurops melanotis - Salebabu Island in the Talaud Islands
- Sulawesi Bear Cuscus, Ailurops ursinus - Sulawesi, Peleng Island, Muna Island, Butung Island, Togian Islands
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f Groves, Colin (16 November 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 45. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
- ^ Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group (1996). Ailurops ursinus. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2007. Retrieved on 2007-12-11.
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