Two newly published studies in the Records of the Australian Museum journal detail the rediscovery of two marsupials - the pygmy long-fingered possum and the ring-tailed glider. Found in New Guinea, both animals were only known from the fossil record and thought to be extinct for thousands of years.
The two species are considered 'Lazarus taxa’, species which are thought to be long-dead and disappear from the fossil record, only to reappear again – either later in the fossil record or even rediscovered as living species.
Other Lazarus species include the coelacanth, the bush dog, the Chacoan peccary, the false killer whale and the Wollemi pine.
"The discovery of one Lazarus taxon, even if thought to have become extinct recently, is an exceptional discovery. But the discovery of two species, thought to have been extinct for thousands of years, is remarkable," says Professor Tim Flannery, a mammalogist and palaeontologist, and the lead author of both scientific papers.
The pygmy long-fingered possum (Dactylonax kambuayai) is so-named for one of the digits on each hand, which is twice as long as the next-longest digit. The new paper details how it was first described in 1999, based on fossil remains, but a study in 2007 suggested that it may still be extant. Two modern specimens, mislabelled in a museum collection, were later uncovered, and then the species was seen and photographed in 2023.
The ring-tailed glider (Tous ayamaruensis) is related to Australia’s three greater glider species, which belong to the Petauroides genus. However, in the new paper, the scientists describe it being sufficiently different enough to belong to a different and new genus, which they have called ‘Tous’. This new genus honours how the local indigenous people, the Tambrauw and Maybrat peoples, refer to the species – which was known to them before it was described in this paper.
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"Referred to locally as Tous by some Tambrauw and Maybrat clans, the glider is a sacred animal. Considered a manifestation of ancestors’ spirits and central to an educational practice referred to as 'initiation'," says Rika Korain, a Maybrat woman and a co-author of the paper.
"We worked very carefully and collaboratively with Tambrauw Elders and identification would not have been possible without cooperation with Traditional Owners and this connection has been essential for ongoing work.”
Top image: both marsupial species were found in isolated lowland forest on the Vogelkop Peninsula in New Guinea. Credit: Shane McEvey
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