Northern common cuscus

Northern common cuscus[1]
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[3]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Phalangeridae
Genus: Phalanger
Species:
P. orientalis
Binomial name
Phalanger orientalis
(Pallas, 1766)
Northern common cuscus range
(blue — native, red — introduced, dark gray — origin uncertain)

The northern common cuscus (Phalanger orientalis), also known as the gray cuscus, is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae native to northern New Guinea and adjacent smaller islands, but is now also found in the Bismarck Archipelago, southeast and central Moluccas, the Solomons, and Timor, where it is believed to have been introduced in prehistoric times from New Guinea.[2][4] It was formerly considered conspecific with the allopatric P. intercastellanus and P. mimicus.

It is hunted for human consumption in New Guinea.[5]

  1. ^ Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 47. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ^ a b Leary, T.; Singadan, R.; Menzies, J.; Helgen, K.; Wright, D.; Allison, A.; Hamilton, S.; Salas, L.; Dickman, C. (2016). "Phalanger orientalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T16847A21951519. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T16847A21951519.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  4. ^ Schapper, Antoinette (2011). "Phalanger Facts: Notes on Blust's Marsupial Reconstructions". Oceanic Linguistics. 50 (1): 258–272. doi:10.1353/ol.2011.0004. S2CID 145482148.
  5. ^ Margaretha Pangau-Adam; Richard Noske; Michael Muehlenberg (2012). "Wildmeat or Bushmeat? Subsistence Hunting and Commercial Harvesting in Papua (West New Guinea), Indonesia". Hum Ecol. 40: 611–621. doi:10.1007/s10745-012-9492-5.