Tim Flannery et al.
A long-toed pygmy possum
Indigenous people in Papua, Indonesia, have helped scientists locate two animals thought to have gone extinct thousands of years ago: a relative of Australia’s giant glider and a palm-sized possum with a bizarre, elongated finger.
Two species of marsupials which scientists thought had been extinct for at least 6000 years were found alive on the island of New Guinea.
O ring-tailed glider and the pygmy long-toed possumpreviously known to science only from fossils found in Australia, have now been found and photographed on the Vogelkop peninsula in Papua, Indonesia, with the help of local indigenous communities, in an investigation led by Tim Flanneryfrom the Australian Museum in Sydney.
As described by , recent photographic evidence and close work with local communities finally allowed researchers to confirm that the animals are indeed alive. Although, its habitat faces serious threats due to logging.
The ring-tailed glider (Tous ayamaruensis) is related to the three Australian species of giant glider in the genus Petauroides. However, it has several key differences, most notably a prehensile tail and hairless ears, which led researchers to reclassify it into its own genus.
Some of the region’s indigenous communities consider the glider sacred and a animal to avoidwhich may have contributed to it remaining unknown to science until now.
The fossil record of the Tous genus is as enigmatic as its living presence, he explains to New Scientist, Scott Hucknullfrom Central Queensland University, Australia, who was not involved in the research.
There are fossil teeth with 3 to 4 million years coming from sites in Victoria and New South Wales, Australia, then a gap until 280,000 years ago, when fossils in Mount Etna and Capricorn caves in Queensland suggest that ancient Tous was a relatively common possum.
“The smallest fossil species is, however, indistinguishable from the Tous now found alive in West Papua,” Hucknull said.
The pygmy long-toed possum (Dactylonax kambuayai), meanwhile, is a striped animal with a finger on each hand that is twice as long as its other fingers.
A The exact location where the animals live is being kept secret due to fears that wildlife traders may target the species.
