Cuscus

Cuscus (/ˈkʌskʌs/ or /ˈkuːskuːs/) is a common name given to the species belonging to four genera of Australasian possums in the family Phalangeridae: Ailurops, Phalanger, Spilocuscus, and Strigocuscus.¹ The name comes from the word kusu or kuso in some local related languages spoken in the Maluku Islands like Bacan and Ambonese Malay.² It is also applied in parts of Indonesia to the Sunda slow loris, where people do not distinguish this from the "kuskus" possums. The loris, being a primate, is unrelated to the other cuscus species. Cuscus are marsupials, even though they have some appearances, traits and attributes like those of lemurs of Madagascar, which are prosimians,³ due to convergent evolution.

Image	Genus	Species	Ref.
Cuscuses
	Ailurops Wagler, 1830	Talaud bear cuscus, Ailurops melanotis (Temminck, 1824) Sulawesi bear cuscus, Ailurops ursinus (Thomas, 1898)	¹^{: 485–486}
	Phalanger Storr, 1780	Gebe cuscus, Phalanger alexandrae Flannery and Boeadi, 1995 Mountain cuscus, Phalanger carmelitae Thomas, 1898 Ground cuscus, Phalanger gymnotis (Peters and Doria, 1875) Eastern common cuscus, Phalanger intercastellanus Thomas, 1895 Woodlark cuscus, Phalanger lullulae Thomas, 1896 Blue-eyed cuscus, Phalanger matabiru Flannery and Boeadi, 1995 Telefomin cuscus, Phalanger matanim Flannery, 1987 Southern common cuscus, Phalanger mimicus Thomas, 1922 Northern common cuscus, Phalanger orientalis (Pallas, 1766) Ornate cuscus, Phalanger ornatus (Gray, 1860) Rothschild's cuscus, Phalanger rothschildi Thomas, 1898 Silky cuscus, Phalanger sericeus Thomas, 1907 Stein's cuscus, Phalanger vestitus (Milne-Edwards, 1877)	¹^{: 489–493}
	Spilocuscus Gray, 1862	Admiralty Island cuscus, Spilocuscus kraemeri (Schwartz, 1910) Common spotted cuscus, Spilocuscus maculatus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803) Waigeou cuscus, Spilocuscus papuensis (Desmarest, 1822) Black-spotted cuscus, Spilocuscus rufoniger (Zimara, 1937) Blue-eyed spotted cuscus, Spilocuscus wilsoni Helgen & Flannery, 2004	¹^{: 495–497}
	Strigocuscus Gray, 1862	Sulawesi dwarf cuscus, Strigocuscus celebensis (Gray, 1858) Banggai cuscus, Strigocuscus pelengensis) (Tate, 1945)	¹^: 486

References

Wilson, Don E.; Mittermeier, Russell A., eds. (2015). "Family Phalangeridae (Cuscuses, brush-tailed possums and scaly-tailed possum)". Handbook of the Mammals of the World Volume 5: Monotremes and Marsupials. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 456–497. ISBN 978-84-96553-99-6. OCLC 914158646.
See:
- Flannery, Tim (1995). Mammals of The South West Pacific and Moluccan Islands. Sydney: Australian Museum.
- van der Zon, A.P.M (1979). Mamalia of Indonesia. UNDP-FAO Park Development Project.
"Common spotted cuscus a marsupial furball". Australian Geographic. 2014-08-21. Retrieved 2021-10-01.

[HMW-1] Wilson, Don E.; Mittermeier, Russell A., eds. (2015). "Family Phalangeridae (Cuscuses, brush-tailed possums and scaly-tailed possum)". Handbook of the Mammals of the World Volume 5: Monotremes and Marsupials. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 456–497. ISBN 978-84-96553-99-6. OCLC 914158646.

[2] See:
Flannery, Tim (1995). Mammals of The South West Pacific and Moluccan Islands. Sydney: Australian Museum.

van der Zon, A.P.M (1979). Mamalia of Indonesia. UNDP-FAO Park Development Project.

[3] Flannery, Tim (1995). Mammals of The South West Pacific and Moluccan Islands. Sydney: Australian Museum.

[4] van der Zon, A.P.M (1979). Mamalia of Indonesia. UNDP-FAO Park Development Project.

[3] "Common spotted cuscus a marsupial furball". Australian Geographic. 2014-08-21. Retrieved 2021-10-01.

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