Pygmy possum
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Burramyidae

[Photo] Eastern Pygmy Possum, Cercartetus nanus. Source: Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/guochai/1297581983/). Date: August 28, 2007. Author: guochai (www.flickr.com/photos/guochai/).

The pygmy possums are the small possums of the family Burramyidae. There are five species of pygmy possum, grouped into two genera. All are native to Australia, with one occurring in New Guinea as well.

Pygmy possums are small marsupials with brown or grey fur; they always have darker fur around their eyes. They range in length from 50 to 120 millimetres long, and usually weigh between 10 and 50 grams. As with all possums, pygmy possums are nocturnal, hiding in a nest in a hollow tree during the day and coming out during the night to forage for food. They are also omnivorous, living on a diet of invertebrates, fruit, seed, nectar and pollen. They are excellent climbers, due in part to their possession of a prehensile tail. Although they cannot glide like some other species of possum, some species have a big leap.

Conservation International (CI) and the Indonesia Institute of Science (LIPI) discovered 2 new mammals upon visit of the Foja Mountains in June 2007: a Cercartetus pygmy possum, one of the world's smallest marsupials, and a Mallomys giant rat (5 times the size of a city rat) - found in Indonesia's Papua in 2005.

Classification
There are two genera of pygmy possums: Burramys and Cercartetus. Burramys contains only one species, the Mountain Pygmy Possum, Burramys parvus, which has a lightly furred tail. Cercartetus consists of four species with tails that have a feather-like appearance.

Family Burramyidae: pygmy possums

Genus Burramys
Mountain Pygmy Possum, Burramys parvus
†Burramys wakefieldi
†Burramys tridactylus
†Burramys brutyi

Genus Cercartetus
Long-tailed Pygmy Possum, Cercartetus caudatus
Western Pygmy Possum, Cercartetus concinnus
Tasmanian Pygmy Possum, Cercartetus lepidus
Eastern Pygmy Possum, Cercartetus nanus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_possum

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