Dactylopsila megalura Rothschild & Dollman 1932

2.

Great-tailed Striped Possum

Dactylopsila megalura

French: Triok a grande queue / German: Blrstenschwanz-Streifenbeutler / Spanish: Falangero rayado de cola grande

Other common names: Great-tailed Triok

Taxonomy. Dactylopsila megalura Rothschild & Dollman, 1932,

“ The Gebroeders [Mountains], Weyland Range, Dutch New Guinea.”

This species is monotypic.

Diswitadon. Weyland Mts, and in Snow (= Surdiman) and Star (= Jayawijaya) Mts, in W & C New Guinea Central Range.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 20-24 cm, tail 28-29 cm; no information on weight. The few specimens available suggest that females may be smaller than males. This species is distinguished from all other striped possums by the enormous bushy tail, which is much larger than that of all other species in the genus.

Habitat. Primary montane forest, at elevations between 1000 m and 2300 m.

Food and Feeding. Diet appears to consist of large tunneling insect larvae that occur within dead and dying wooden logs.

Breeding. There is no information available for this species.

Activity patterns. This is a strictly arboreal species.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. There is no information available for this species.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Very few specimensofthis species have been recorded to date. Two female co-types were collect ed from Weyland Mountains, and a male was collected from Feramin, near Telefomin. It has a wide distribution, and it is expected to occur in the montane areas between the localities that form the extremes ofits range. When first collected, it was described as being very rare and was found only in the high mountains; only ten individuals were encountered in 600 hours of work at one locality. The Great-tailed Striped Possum’s habitat appears to be largely intact throughout the montane regions. This species is occasionally hunted by local people for food, as well as for its pelt (sometimes used as part of a headdress). It is not easily encountered, however, and hunting is considered not to be a major threat to this species. It has been recorded from Mekil Wildlife Management Area, in the east ofits range.

Bibliography. Flannery (1994a, 1995a), Leary, Wright, Hamilton, Singadan, Menzies, Bonaccorso, Helgen, Seri, Allison, Salas & Dickman (2008a), Menzies & Singadan (2005), Rothschild & Dollman (1933a).