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The
bear cuscuses are the members of the genus
Ailurops. They are
marsupialMarsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central...
s of the family
PhalangeridaePhalangeridae is a family of nocturnal marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, including the cuscuses, brushtail possums, and their close relatives...
.
The bear cuscuses are arboreal marsupials that live in the upper canopy of tropical
rainforestRainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
s. Almost nothing is known of their status and ecology. Although some scientists assign all populations to one species,
A. ursinus, others place
melanotis as its own species. The genus is distinct, though, and some authorities place it within its own subfamily,
Ailuropinae. It is found only on some of the islands of
IndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
(e.g.,
SulawesiSulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
), which are culturally part of Asia, where marsupials are generally not found but which are
biogeographicallyBiogeography is the study of the distribution of species , organisms, and ecosystems in space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a highly regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area...
part of the Australasian ecozone. It is hypothesized that the isolation of the bear cuscuses on the island of Sulawesi in the
MioceneThe Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
accounts for the animal's morphological divergence from the rest of the Phalangeridae family.
The genus contains the following species:
- Talaud Bear Cuscus
The Talaud Bear Cuscus is a species of marsupial in the Phalangeridae family. It is endemic to Salibabu Island in the Talaud Islands, Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.-References:...
, Ailurops melanotis - Salebabu Island in the Talaud IslandsTalaud Islands is a group of islands located north of Sulawesi island in Indonesia, northeast of the Sangihe Islands...
- Sulawesi Bear Cuscus
The Sulawesi Bear Cuscus or Sulawesi Bear Phalanger is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. It is endemic to Sulawesi and nearby islands in Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests....
, Ailurops ursinus - SulawesiSulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
, Peleng IslandPeleng is an island off the East coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia and is the largest island of the Banggai Islands group of islands...
, Muna IslandMuna is an island in the South East Sulawesi province of Indonesia with an area of . It is located just southeast of the island of Sulawesi....
, Butung IslandButon , is an island in Indonesia located off the southeast peninsula of Sulawesi.-History:In the precolonial era, the island, then usually known as Butung, was within the sphere of influence of Ternate...
, Togian IslandsThe Togian Islands are an archipelago of 56 islands and islets, in the Gulf of Tomini, off the coast of Central Sulawesi, in Indonesia. The three largest islands are Batudaka, Togian, and Talatakoh...