Two New Cryptic Species of Australian Sugar Gliders Discovered

Jul 21, 2020 by News Staff / Source

A research team led by Charles Darwin University biologists has identified and raised two additional species within what is currently designated as the sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps). The recognition of distinct species is of particular importance given the current climate of biodiversity loss across northern Australia.

The savanna glider (Petaurus ariel). Image credit: Michael Barritt.

The sugar glider, a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal marsupial, is the most widespread species of the genus Petaurus, ranging from Tasmania through much of eastern and northern Australia and into New Guinea and several islands of Indonesia.

Its common name refers to its preference for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability to glide through the air, much like a flying squirrel. Its diet also includes pollen, nectar, insects and their larvae, arachnids, and small vertebrates.

“While the discovery of a new mammal species is uncommon and exciting, it also means that the distribution of the sugar glider has been widely overestimated,” said Dr. Teigan Cremona, a researcher in the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University.

In the current study, Dr. Cremona and colleagues aimed to resolve the taxonomy of Australian gliders currently recognized as Petaurus breviceps.

The scientists examined a 150-year-old specimen from the Natural History Museum, London, more than 300 live and preserved glider specimens from Australian collections.

They found that the sugar glider actually represents three genetically and morphologically distinct species.

These are now formally recognized as the sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps), the savanna glider (Petaurus ariel) and the Kreft’s glider (Petaurus notatus).

“The savanna glider occurs in the woodland savannas of northern Australia and looks a bit like a much smaller version of a squirrel glider with a more pointed nose,” Dr. Cremona said.

“The remaining two species, the sugar glider and the Krefft’s glider, look similar and may co-occur in some areas of south-eastern Australia.”

“Our findings are not only a significant contribution to science but have important conservation implications,” said Professor Sue Carthew, also from the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University.

“When considered as one species, sugar gliders were considered widespread and abundant, and classified as Least Concern,” Dr. Cremona added.

“The distinction of these three species means a substantially diminished distribution for the sugar glider, making that species vulnerable to large scale habitat destruction.”

The recent bushfires had incinerated quite a large proportion of the species’ current distributional range.

“Given they are hollow-dwellers and require a diverse habitat with a variety of foods, the bushfires have most likely had a devastating effect on this much-loved species,” Dr. Cremona said.

“Our new species from northern Australia, the savanna glider, occurs in a region that is also suffering ongoing small mammal declines,” she added.

The study was published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

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Teigan Cremona et al. Integrative taxonomic investigation of Petaurus breviceps (Marsupialia: Petauridae) reveals three distinct species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, published online July 13, 2020; doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa060