North Australian short-headed glider
| North Australian short-headed glider | ||||||||||||
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Drawing by John Gould |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Petaurus ariel | ||||||||||||
| ( Gould , 1842) |
The Nordaustralische short head Gleitbeutler ( Petaurus ariel ) is a bag species of the genus petaurus that in northern Australia from the coast of Kimberley to the Gulf of Carpentaria east to Lawn Hill in northern Queensland and on the islands Tiwi Islands and Groote Eylandt occurs .
features
The North Australian short-headed glider clearly differs in its range in terms of body size. In the northern, coastal areas of the distribution area, the animals are smaller than all other gliding squirrel hives, in the southern sections, on the other hand, they can be more than twice as big. Since the species is the only species of flying squirrel in its range, it is unmistakable.
The lectotype of Petaurus ariel caught near the former British settlement of Port Essington in today's Garig-Gunak-Barlu National Park has a head-to-trunk length of 15.5 cm, the possibly damaged tail is just as long (Gould measured 17 , 8 cm). The ears are 17 mm long, the forefoot 19 mm and the rear foot 22 mm. The lectotype is colored gray-olive on the back. A brown stripe of different widths extends from the back of the head to about 2.5 cm in front of the base of the tail. In the middle of the back the hair is 12 mm long, the 8 mm near the body are dyed smoke gray, followed by a 2 mm wide brown zone and the tips are again smoke gray. The top of the head is light gray. The eyes and the bases of the ears are circled in black. The ears are flesh-colored but blackish on the outer edge. The fur-covered flight membrane is sepia-colored on the top and cream-colored on the underside. Front and rear paws and toes are slightly hairy on top. The claws are relatively long (max. 9 mm). The tail is thinly haired. The last third of the tail is dark black-brown on the top and bottom. The approximately 16 whiskers on each side of the head are a maximum of 23 mm long.
Systematics
The North Australian short-headed glider was first scientifically described in 1842 by the British ornithologist and animal painter John Gould under the name Belideus ariel . In 1846 , the British zoologist George Robert Waterhouse synonymized the species with the short-headed gliding pouch ( Petaurus breviceps ) and in 1922 the British zoologist Oldfield Thomas registered the form as a subspecies of Petaurus breviceps . A taxonomic study of Petaurus breviceps published in mid-2020 found that Petaurus ariel is more closely related to the mahogany flying squirrel bucket ( Petaurus gracilis ) and the mean flying squirrel bucket ( P. norfolcensis ) than to Petaurus breviceps . It was therefore again granted the rank of an independent species.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Teigan Cremona, Andrew M Baker, Steven JB Cooper, Rebecca Montague-Drake, Alyson M Stobo-Wilson, Susan M Carthew: Integrative taxonomic investigation of Petaurus breviceps (Marsupialia: Petauridae) reveals three distinct species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, July 2020; doi: 10.1093 / zoolinnean / zlaa060