Authority citation: Thomas, O. 1888. Catalogue of the Marsupialia and Monotremata in the collection of the British Museum (Natural History). British Museum (Natural History), London, 401 pp.
Authority publication link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37986552
Original name as described: Petaurus breviceps var. papuanus
Nominal names: papuanus O. Thomas, 1888 | flavidus Tate & Archbold, 1935 | tafa Tate & Archbold, 1935
Taxonomy
Subclass: Theria -- Infraclass: Marsupialia -- Order: Diprotodontia -- Family: Petauridae -- Subfamily: Petaurinae
Type specimen voucher catalogue number: BMNH:Mamm:1876.7.5.5
Type locality: "Huon Gulf, E. New Guinea," Papua New Guinea.
Country distribution (coarse map shown below; most species exist in only part of countries): Indonesia (IDN) | Papua New Guinea (PNG)
Species Status: This species is currently living, it lives in wild habitats, its taxonomic status is currently accepted, and it is newly recognized since MSW3 2005.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species status: Not evaluated
Species-specific notes: tentatively split from P. breviceps (and was included under P. notatus tentatively); the Australian populations of P. breviceps were recently split into 3 species, P. breviceps, P. ariel, and P. notatus, but the New Guinea populations were not attributed to any of these; here, the New Guinea populations are included under the species P. papuanus tentatively based on previous molecular data, but this arrangement is considered tentative and further revision is needed in this group
Citation: Malekian, M., Cooper, S. J., Norman, J. A., Christidis, L., & Carthew, S. M. (2010). Molecular systematics and evolutionary origins of the genus Petaurus (Marsupialia: Petauridae) in Australia and New Guinea. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 54(1), 122-135.|Cremona, T., Baker, A. M., Cooper, S. J., Montague-Drake, R., Stobo-Wilson, A. M., & Carthew, S. M. (2021). Integrative taxonomic investigation of Petaurus breviceps (Marsupialia: Petauridae) reveals three distinct species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 191(2), 503-527.
Please send any edits, corrections, or unfilled data (including full citations) to mammaldiversity [at] gmail [dot] com.