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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MAR-MEC |
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MARSUPIALIA . The most generalized representatives of the group appear to be the ring-tailed phalangers, constituting the genus Pseudochirus, which is common to Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea
includes at least half a score of species. The dentition is generally i. , c. j, p.+m. i, but one upper incisor and the canine may be wanting. The crowns of the molars show a crescenticutructure, but they are said to retain the three primitive cusps, which are fused in the other genera. The prehensile tail has its tip naked for a short distance, and the whole of the terminal third and the under surface of the remainder short-haired, the tip being generally white. The hair is thick and woolly, and generally yellowish-olive in colour. These phalangers are the ring-tailed opossums of the Australians. From this genus is apparently derived the taguan flying-squirrel, or flying-phalanger (Petauroides volans), which ranges from Queensland to Victoria, and is the largest of the flying group. Its dentition is essentially similar to that of Pseudochirus, although there is one pair less of cheek-teeth, and the bushy tail is naked and prehensile at the tip. Reverting to the non-flying species, we have Gymnobelideus leadbeateri, a small animal from Victoria representing a genus by itself, with the same dental formula
Guinea
supply of the blossoms upon which it feeds; the flowers
elevation
body
A second species, P. sciureus, in some ways one of the most beautiful of all mammals, is shown in fig. 2. A precisely similar relationship exists between the tiny feather-tailed phalanger, Distoechurus pennatus, of New Guinea, and the equally minute pigmy flying-phalanger or flying-mouse, Acrobates pygmaeus, of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria; both being characterized by the hairs of the tail forming a vane on each side, as well as by tufts of long hairs at the base of the thinly-haired ears. There are six pairs of cheek-teeth, of which the last three are small and rounded, with blunted cusps, while the anterior teeth are sharp
flowers
To some extent intermediate in structure between Acrobates and Petaurus, although without a parachute, are the beautiful little dormouse-phalangers, as typifed by Dromicia nana, which range from Western Australia and Tasmania to New Guinea. They appear to be a generalized type, which has died out where they have come into competition with the more specialized forms. Although unable to fly they are exceedingly active, and take long leaps from bough to bough; externally they are characterized by their dormouse- like form, large, thin, and nearly naked ears, without tufts inside or at the base, sharp
tiThe last group of the sub-family is represented firstly by the cuscuses, or cususes (Phalanger), which are arboreal animals of the approximate size of cats, and range from the Solomon Islands through New Guinea and the Moluccas to Celebes, being, in fact, the only Old World marsupials found westwards of New Guinea. Externally they are characterized by their thick woolly fur, short or medium ears, which are hairy outside, and sometimes inside as well, by the naked and striated soles of the feet, and the long and markedly prehensile tail, of which the basal half is furred like the body
Nearly allied to the cuscuses are the typical Australian phalangers, or opossums, forming the genus Trichosurus. They differ from the cuscuses, among other features, by the thick and non-tapering tail being covered with bushy hair up to the extreme tip, which is naked, as is a narrow line along the middle of the terminal third (or rather more) of the lower surface, by the presence of a gland on the chest, and by the soles of the hind feet being hairy. In the skull the upper canine is separated from the outermost incisor, instead of close to it as in the cuscuses (fig. I). The best-known species is the brush-tailed phalanger, or brush-tailed opossum (T. vulpecula), of Australia, an animal of the size of a small fox, represented in Tasmania by the brown phalanger (T. vulpecula fuliginosus). The short-eared phalanger (T. caning) represents the group in Southern Queensland and New South Wales. The dental formula
chief
shooting
The long-snouted phalanger is referred to under MARSUr1ALTA. (R. L.*) End of Article: MARSUPIALIA If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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