Petaurus
Eight species are recognised here, of which seven are represented by photos.
Typically five species are recognised, but recent genetic studies suggest there may be somewhere over ten species, with the Sugar Glider
Petaurus breviceps in particular being a species-complex.
The five standard species are the Northern Glider
P. abidi of New Guinea; Yellow-bellied Glider
P. australis of eastern Australia; Sugar Glider
P. breviceps of eastern and northern Australia, and New Guinea; Mahogany Glider
P. gracilis of Queensland; and Squirrel Glider
P. norfolcensis of eastern Australia. Only the first of these is not represented by photos in the Zoochat galleries.
However the Yellow-bellied Glider may be two species (both forms are depicted in the galleries); and the Sugar Glider has recently been split into three species within Australia (
P. ariel, P. breviceps, P. notatus) - with there possibly being one or two other cryptic species (from The Kimberley in Western Australia, and Cape York Peninsula in Queensland) - and there may be as many as five other cryptic "Sugar Glider" species in New Guinea. Few of these forms are depicted by photos on Zoochat.
2009 paper on genetics within
Petaurus species:
https://www.researchgate.net/public...pialia_Petauridae_in_Australia_and_New_Guinea
2020 paper (abstract only) describing the three Australian "Sugar Glider" species:
Integrative taxonomic investigation of Petaurus breviceps (Marsupialia: Petauridae) reveals three distinct species
Northern Glider Petaurus abidi
Monotypic.
Endemic to the north coast ranges of New Guinea.
This species is not represented in the Zoochat galleries.
Savannah Glider Petaurus ariel
Monotypic. Split from the Sugar Glider
Petaurus breviceps (complex) in 2020 as a new species. Genetics show it to be more closely related to
Petaurus gracilis and
Petaurus norfolcensis than to
Petaurus breviceps.
Found across northern Australia to at least the western border of Queensland. A genetically-distinct population in the Kimberley (northwest Western Australia) may be an undescribed species.
Photo by
@Najade in the wild, Australia.
Sugar Glider (Petaurus breviceps ariel) - ZooChat
Yellow-bellied Glider Petaurus australis
Two subspecies:
australis and an unnamed Wet Tropics subspecies (possibly a separate species). The subspecific name
reginae is often attached to the northern unnamed form, but
reginae was actually described from southeastern Queensland, within the distributional range of the nominate subspecies, and is best treated as a synonym of
P. a. australis.
Found down the east coast of Australia from central Queensland to southwest Victoria, with an isolated population in the Wet Tropics of northeast Queensland.
Photo by
@Najade at Moonlit Sanctuary, Australia (subspecies
australis).
Yellow-bellied Glider (Petaurus australis) | ZooChat
Photo by
@Najade in the wild, Australia (of the unnamed Wet Tropics form).
Yellow-bellied Glider (Petaurus australis) | ZooChat
Sugar Glider Petaurus breviceps
Monotypic.
Found in the coastal strip of eastern Australia from southeast Queensland south to the border of NSW and Victoria. The precise limits to the north and south are unknown.
The photo below by
@WhistlingKite24 was taken at Wildlife HQ in Queensland (Australia), and these animals may be "true"
P. breviceps if local animals. Captive animals in Australia are probably a mix, and I don't have any information on where the pictured animals came from, but the appearance of them matches the split
P. breviceps (with the dorsal stripe being sharply-defined on the head but indistinct on the back; and not visible in the photo is that these animals have only a very small white tip to the tail which seems to be a distinguishing feature also).
Sugar Gliders (Petaurus breviceps) - ZooChat
Photo below of a true
breviceps specimen taken by
@WhistlingKite24 in the wild, Australia.
Sugar Glider - ZooChat
Mahogany Glider Petaurus gracilis
Monotypic. Has formerly been treated as a subspecies of
P. norfolcensis.
Endemic to a very small area in northeast Queensland.
Photo by
@Najade at Kuranda Koala Gardens, Australia.
Mahogany Glider (Petaurus gracilis) | ZooChat
Squirrel Glider Petaurus norfolcensis
Monotypic.
Found in scattered locations down the east coast of Australia, from Queensland's Cape York Peninsula to central Victoria.
Photo by
@Giant Eland at Caversham Wildlife Park, Australia.
squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) | ZooChat
Krefft's Glider Petaurus notatus
Probably monotypic. Formerly treated as a subspecies of
P. breviceps.
Found from northern Queensland to southeastern South Australia, excluding the coastal area on the eastern side of the Great Divide (where
P. breviceps occurs), and also introduced to Tasmania. The genetically-distinct population on the Cape York Peninsula is likely to be a separate species.
Photo by
@Dannelboyz in the wild, Australia (in Victoria, in the range of what used to included within the subspecies
P. b. breviceps).
Sugar Glider - Petaurus breviceps breviceps - ZooChat
Photo by
@LaughingDove in the wild, Australia (in Queensland, in the range of what used to included within the subspecies
P. b. longicaudatus). Note the tapering tail which is a distinguishing feature compared to the more consistent tail shape of the now-split
P. breviceps.
Sugar Glider - Chambers Wildlife Lodge | ZooChat
Papuan Glider Petaurus papuanus
Probably a species-complex, but taxonomic limits are unknown following the splits of the Australian forms of "
P. breviceps". The next available name for New Guinea animals (after splitting the complex) is
P. papuanus, hence I have used that here.
Four subspecies (of what was then known as
P. breviceps) have been described from New Guinea:
biacensis, flavidus, papuanus, tafa. The first has often been considered as a separate species, but all have also been treated as synonyms of
papuanus.
Under those four subspecies,
biacensis is found on Biak and Supiori Islands off northwestern New Guinea;
flavidus is distributed across southern New Guinea and in the Aru Islands;
papuanus across northern New Guinea and the islands to the east; and
tafa in the eastern parts of the central ranges, down the southeastern peninsula. The five genetic clades discussed in the 2009 paper linked at the start of this post do not match those distributions however.
The photo below by
@Deer Forest2 at Qinhuangdao Wildlife Zoo, China, shows an animals from a western New Guinea population (animals traded in Asia and to the USA originate in the Sorong area, which is in the range of the named subspecies
papuanus:
The origin of exotic pet sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) kept in the United States of America). Note also the lack of a white tail-tip.
Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) for taking photos - ZooChat
