Bear cuscus

The bear cuscuses are the members of the genus Ailurops.[1] They are marsupials of the family Phalangeridae.[1]

Bear cuscuses[1]
Sulawesi bear cuscus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Phalangeridae
Subfamily: Ailuropinae
Genus: Ailurops
Wagler, 1830
Type species
Phalangista ursina
Temminck, 1824
Species

The bear cuscuses are arboreal marsupials that live in the upper canopy of tropical rainforests. Almost nothing is known of their status and ecology.[2][3] 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]

They are found only in Indonesia on Sulawesi and some smaller nearby islands that are biogeographically part of Wallacea, which from a faunal standpoint is intermediate between the Australian and Indomalayan realms. 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 family Phalangeridae.

The genus contains the following species:[1]

References
  1. Groves, C. P. (2005). "Genus Ailurops". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group (1996). "Ailurops ursinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 1996. Retrieved 2007-12-11.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Flannery, T. & Helgen, K. (2008). "Ailurops melanotis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)


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