Scientists Discover New Marsupial Species in Australia and It’s Adorable
It’s quite rare to find a new breed of marsupial — or any — species, but scientists in Australia have made a remarkable discovery. With the help of DNA evidence, scientists have found that one of Australia’s airborne marsupials is actually three separate species.
A new study published in Nature’s public access Scientific Reports Journal details the findings and now the greater glider, which is a possum-sized marsupial with big ears and a long furry tail, is no longer classified as a single species.
“Australia’s biodiversity just got a lot richer,” Andrew Krockenberger, a professor at James Cook University and a co-author of the study, told the outlet. “It’s not every day that new mammals are confirmed, let alone two new mammals.”
Greater gliders from the northern (top left), central (bottom left), and southern (right) groups identified through DArTseq showing morphological differences that are typical of our dataset. Greater gliders of the type shown on the right have several pelage color morphs including white and light grey. Photos by Denise McGregor (top left) and Jasmine Vink (bottom left and right).
You can see more about these new findings here.
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