Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised May 18, 2026

Cercartetus

The genus Cercartetus is a group of very small possums known as pygmy possums. Four species comprise this genus, which together with the genus Burramys make up the marsupial family Burramyidae.

Last revised
May 18, 2026
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≈ 2 min
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357 w
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Cercartetus
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene - Recent
Cercartetus nanus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Burramyidae
Genus: Cercartetus
Gloger, 1841
Type species
Phalangista nana
Desmarest, 1818
Species
Burramyidae distribution. Cercartetus in red.

The genus Cercartetus is a group of very small possums known as pygmy possums. Four species comprise this genus, which together with the genus Burramys make up the marsupial family Burramyidae.1

It has occasionally been presumed that Cercaërtus was a misspelling or synonym of Cercartetus.23 However, the name Cercaërtus is a junior synonym of Trichosurus and not of Cercartetus.4567

Conservation International (CI) and the Indonesia Institute of Science (LIPI) reported on the possible discovery of a new species of Cercartetus pygmy possum upon visit to the Foja Mountains in June 2007.8

Species

References

References

  1. Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
  2. Simpson, G.G. (1945). "The principles of classification and a classification of mammals". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 85: 1–350.
  3. Grzimek, B. (1975). "Pygmy Possums". Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Volume 10. Mammals I. Melbourne: Van Nostrand Reinhold. p. 114.
  4. Iredale, T.; Troughton, E.L.G. (1934). "A checklist of the mammals recorded from Australia". Australian Museum Memoir. 6: 1–122. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1967.6.1934.516.
  5. Wakefield, N.A. (1963). "The Australian pigmy possums". The Victorian Naturalist. 80: 99–116.
  6. McKay, G.M. (1988). "Burramyidae". In J.L. Bannister; J.H. Calaby; L.J. Dawson; J.K. Ling; J.A. Mahoney; G.M. McKay; B.J. Richardson; W.D.L. Ride; D. W. Walton (eds.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia 5. Mammalia. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. pp. 98–102.
  7. Harris, J.M. (2006). "The discovery and early natural history of the eastern pygmy-possum, Cercartetus nanus (Geoffroy and Desmarest, 1817)". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 127: 107–124.
  8. "Afp.google.com, Two new mammals found in Indonesian 'lost world': green group". Archived from the original on 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2007-12-17.