| Cercartetus Temporal range: Late Pleistocene - Recent | |
|---|---|
) | |
| Cercartetus nanus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | Burramyidae |
| Genus: | Cercartetus Gloger, 1841 |
| Type species | |
| Phalangista nana (Desmarest, 1818) | |
| Species | |
| |
The genus Cercartetus is a group of very small possums known as pygmy possums. Four species comprise this genus, which together with the genus Burramys make up the marsupial family Burramyidae.[1]
It has occasionally been presumed that Cercaërtus was a misspelling or synonym of Cercartetus.[2][3] However, the name Cercaërtus is a junior synonym of Trichosurus and not of Cercartetus.[4][5][6][7]
Conservation International (CI) and the Indonesia Institute of Science (LIPI) reported on the possible discovery of a new species of Cercartetus pygmy possum upon visit to the Foja Mountains in June 2007.[8]
Species
- Genus Cercartetus
- Long-tailed pygmy possum, Cercartetus caudatus
- Southwestern pygmy possum, Cercartetus concinnus
- Tasmanian pygmy possum, Cercartetus lepidus
- Eastern pygmy possum, Cercartetus nanus
References
- ^ 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. pp. 44–45. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ Simpson, G.G. (1945). "The principles of classification and a classification of mammals". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 85: 1–350.
- ^ Grzimek, B. (1975). "Pygmy Possums". Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Volume 10. Mammals I. Melbourne: Van Nostrand Reinhold. p. 114.
- ^ Iredale, T.; Troughton, E.L.G. (1934). "A checklist of the mammals recorded from Australia". Australian Museum Memoir. 6: 1–122. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1967.6.1934.516.
- ^ Wakefield, N.A. (1963). "The Australian pigmy possums". The Victorian Naturalist. 80: 99–116.
- ^ McKay, G.M. (1988). "Burramyidae". In J.L. Bannister; J.H. Calaby; L.J. Dawson; J.K. Ling; J.A. Mahoney; G.M. McKay; B.J. Richardson; W.D.L. Ride; D. W. Walton (eds.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia 5. Mammalia. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. pp. 98–102.
- ^ Harris, J.M. (2006). "The discovery and early natural history of the eastern pygmy-possum, Cercartetus nanus (Geoffroy and Desmarest, 1817)". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 127: 107–124.
- ^ Afp.google.com, Two new mammals found in Indonesian 'lost world': green group