Bear cuscus

Taxobox
name = Bear cuscusesMSW3 Groves | pages = 45]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Diprotodontia
familia = Phalangeridae
subfamilia = Ailuropinae
subfamilia_authority = Flannery, Archer and Maynes, 1987
genus = "Ailurops"
genus_authority = Wagler, 1830
type_species = "Phalangista ursina"
type_species_authority = Temminck, 1824
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
*"Ailurops melanotis"
*"Ailurops ursinus"

The bear cuscuses are the members of the genus "Ailurops". They are marsupials in the Phalangeridae family.

The bear cuscuses are arboreal marsupials that live in the upper canopy of tropical rainforests.fact|date=December 2007 Almost nothing is known of their status and ecology.IUCN2007 | assessors = Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group | year = 1996 | title = Ailurops ursinus | id = 40637 | downloaded = 2007-12-11] Although some scientists assign all populations to one species, "A. ursinus", others place "melanotis" as its own species. The genus is distinct, though, and some authorities place it within its own subfamily, Ailuropinae. 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.fact|date=December 2007

The genus contains the following species:
*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

References