Petaurus

Taxobox
name = "Petaurus"

---

image_width = 250px
image_caption = Sugar Glider
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
infraclassis = Marsupialia
ordo = Diprotodontia
familia = Petauridae
genus = "Petaurus"
genus_authority = Shaw, 1791
type_species = "Petaurus australis"
type_species_authority = Shaw, 1791
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "Petaurus breviceps"
* "Petaurus australis"
* "Petaurus gracilis"
* "Petaurus abidi"
* "Petaurus biancensis"
* "Petaurus norfolcensis"The genus "Petaurus" contains flying phalangers or wrist-winged gliders, a group of arboreal marsupials. There are six species, Sugar Glider, Squirrel Glider, Mahogany Glider, Northern Glider, Yellow-bellied Glider and Biak Glider, and are native to Australia or New Guinea.

Flying phalangers are typically nocturnal, most being small (sometimes around 400 mm, counting the tail), and have folds of loose skin running from the wrists to the ankles. They use this skin to glide from tree to tree by jumping and holding out their limbs spread-eagle. They're able to travel for distances as long as 100 meters. Beside the distinctive skin folds, flying phalangers also have large, forward facing eyes, short (though pointed) faces, and long flat tails which are used as rudders while gliding.

All are omnivores, and eat tree sap, gum, nectar, pollen, and insects, along with manna and honeydew. Most flying phalangers appear to be solitary, though the Yellow-bellied Glider and Sugar Glider are both known to live in groups.

Conservation status

While Biak and Sugar Gliders are relatively common, most of the other species are rare. Mahogany Gliders are endangered, and so uncommon that they weren't seen for more than a hundred years after their original discovery in 1883. Nearly a month after they were rediscovered in 1989, their habitat was cleared for plantations, and another population wasn't found until 1991.

pecies

* Genus "Petaurus"
** Northern Glider, "Petaurus abidi"
** Yellow-bellied Glider, "Petaurus australis"
** Biak Glider, "Petaurus biacensis"
** Sugar Glider, "Petaurus breviceps"
** Mahogany Glider, "Petaurus gracilis"
** Squirrel Glider, "Petaurus norfolcensis"

References

* [http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/BHAN-53J8XS?open Sugar Glider] - Tasmanian Government
* [http://www.chaffeezoo.org/animals/sugarGlider.html Sugar Glider] - Caffee Zoo
* [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/petaurus/p._australis Yellow-Bellied Glider] - University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
* [http://www.animalinfo.org/species/petagrac.htm Mahogany Glider] - Animal Info
* [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/acrobates/a._pygmaeus Feathertail Glider] - University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
* [http://www.nws-wiesbaden.de/coll043.html Marsupials and Monotremes of the Museum of Wiesbaden] - (Images)
* [http://www.marsupialsociety.org The Marsupial Society of Australia]
* [http://www.chaffeezoo.org/animals/marsupialsTheirWay.html about Marsupials]

References

*MSW3 Groves|pages=54-55