What is it about?
A number of different species of possums are found throughout eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, and northern Australia, closely related to the brush-tailed possum and known commonly as 'Cuscus'. This study used mitochondrial DNA sequences to develop a family tree of evolutionary relationships between these various cuscus species.
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Why is it important?
This evolutionary tree of Cuscus species is important for our understanding of their biogeography and interpreting how different species or their ancestors may have originally colonised the various islands on which they are now found. This can have important implications for both the evolution of the region's current biodiversity, as well as the arrival and early actions of the peoples who later claimed the region as their home.
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This page is a summary of: Phylogenetic relationships of the cuscuses (Diprotodontia : Phalangeridae) of island Southeast Asia and Melanesia based on the mitochondrial ND2 gene, Australian Mammalogy, January 2020, CSIRO Publishing,
DOI: 10.1071/am18050.
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