Petaurus breviceps Waterhouse 1838

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Diprotodontia, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 43-70 : 55

Petaurus breviceps Waterhouse 1838

Petaurus breviceps Waterhouse 1838 , Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1838: 152.

Type Locality: Australia, New South Wales.

Vernacular Names: Sugar Glider.

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Petaurus breviceps subsp. breviceps Waterhouse 1838

Subspecies Petaurus breviceps subsp. ariel Gould 1842

Subspecies Petaurus breviceps subsp. longicaudatus Longman 1924

Subspecies Petaurus breviceps subsp. papuanus Thomas 1888

Distribution: SE South Australia to Cape York Peninsula (Queensland), Tasmania (introduction), N Northern Territory, NE Western Australia; New Guinea and adjacent small islands, including Bismarck Arch.; Aru Isls and N Moluccas ( Indonesia).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc). Common.

Discussion: See Smith (1973, Mammalian Species, 30). McAllan and Bruce (1989) argued that the original publication of this name was in The Athenaeum, 580:880 [8 Dec 1838]. An undescribed form from Tifalmin, west of the Sepik, is very distinct ( Colgan and Flannery, 1992). Gliders from Goodenough, Fergusson and Normanby Isls (D’Entrecasteaux group), Papua New Guinea, usually identified as belonging to this species, are very distinct morphologically, if not electrophoretically ( Flannery, 1994 a).