Pygmy ringtail possum
Pygmy ringtail possum[1] | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
Order: | Diprotodontia |
Family: | Pseudocheiridae |
Genus: | Pseudochirulus |
Species: | P. mayeri
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Binomial name | |
Pseudochirulus mayeri (Rothschild & Dollman, 1932)
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Pygmy ringtail possum range | |
Synonyms | |
Pseudocheirus mayeri (Rothschild & Dollman, 1932) |
The pygmy ringtail possum (Pseudochirulus mayeri) is a species of
Pygmy ringtails are herbivores or “arboreal folivores” that eat pollen, lichen, fungus and “epiphytic moss."[3] P. mayeri also eat the bark of trees, which provides them with calcium and potassium.[4] They have “large incisor” teeth which help with “clipping forage from plants” and have “selenodont molars” that help with “shredding ingested foliage."[3] They have “an enlarged cecum that acts as a fermentation chamber”[5] and allows “gut bacteria to breakdown [sic] plant tissue."[3] The extra retention time allows the pygmy ringtail to obtain more nutrients from the ingested forage.
Characteristics
Pseudochirulus mayeri is a very small species, with the males being slightly smaller than the females. The average female weight is 154.5 grams, ranging from 105 to 206 grams, while the average length is 372 mm with a range of 330–400 mm. The male weighs approximately 149 grams ranging between 115 and 178 grams and an average length of 344 mm with a range of 318–369 mm. Their life expectancy in the wild is approximately 4 or 5 years. These specific pygmy ringtails have “cinnamon brown to dark brown” fur with a visible “bluish-gray undercoat” when they move. Their tail has thick brown hair on top while calloused and hairless underneath. The Pseudochirulus mayeri also have “an opposable first toe on their hind feet, and their second and third toes are syndactylus.”[3]
These possums make dreys, or nests, “in the forks of trees, less than four meters off the ground.” These nests consist of foliage similar to moss and lichen and they enter into “state[s] of partial
Predators
The main predators of P. mayeri are owls, specifically
References
- OCLC 62265494.
- ^ . Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hatfield, Lucy. "Pseudochirulus mayeri (pygmy ringtail)." Animal Diversity Web. Regents of the University of Michigan, 19 March 2011. Web. 14 October 2014. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Pseudochirulus_mayeri/
- .
- PMID 21125022.