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Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical
Initial expeditions which concentrated on the western side of Woodlark Island found P. lullulae to be scarce, leading to fears that the species was endangered. More recent expeditions have found it to be moderately abundant on the eastern side of the island and on Alcester Island, even around human populations where it is hunted. The species is still considered vulnerable because of it's limited geographic distribution (Norris, 1999).
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: endangered
Little is known about the specific development and life cycle of P. lullulae. However, like many marsupials the young are born naked and highly altricial. The young are carried in the marsupium, after which they grasp onto the mother's back and ride there while they continue to mature (Vaughn, Ryan, and Czaplewski, 2000; Norris, 1999).
Phalanger lullulae is hunted for meat by Woodlark Island's indigenous people. However, the meat from P. lullulae is only a minor part of the local diet, and the animals are only hunted when the sea is too rough to fish (Flannery, 1994).
Positive Impacts: food
Phalanger lullulae may compete with the omnivorous sugar gliders and frugivorous bats (Dobsonia pannietensis, Nyctimene major, Pteropus conspicillatus, Pteropus hypomelanus- Flannery, 1995) which also forage in the forest canopy for food. It is not known to raid gardens, so it is not regarded as a pest (Norris, 1999).
Local people on Woodlark and Alcester Islands claim that P. lullulae feeds on two species of vine. The species of these vines have not yet been identified. It has been suggested based on information from other species of Phalanger that they may also eat fruit and even meat when available (Flannery, 1995).
Primary Diet: herbivore (Folivore )
Phalanger lullulae (Woodlark Island Cuscus) is only found on Woodlark Island, which is part of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea, and on the neighboring island of Alcester, which is 70 kilometres south of Woodlark (Norris, 1999).
Biogeographic Regions: australian (Native ); oceanic islands (Native ); pacific ocean (Native )
Other Geographic Terms: island endemic
Phalanger lullulae prefers primary and secondary lowland dry forest. For this reason, it is more plentiful on the eastern side of Woodlark Island, where this is the predominant type of vegetation, than in the dense jungle of the western side (Flannery, 1995).
Habitat Regions: tropical
Terrestrial Biomes: forest
Phalanger lullulae has a distinctive pelage. It is short and woolly with irregularly marbled brown, ochre, and white dorsal areas. The ventral fur is white with irregular dark spots. The color varies on individuals along a continuum from predominantly dark with some lighter spots to predominantly light colored with a few small darker spots (Flannery, 1995). The species has black facial skin and a pink rhinarium. Pale ear flashes are sometimes present.
Phalanger lullulae is a medium sized marsupial. The females are on average slightly larger than the males.
Phalanger lullulae is highly adapted to arboreal life. The tail is long and prehensile. The end of the tail is naked and used to assist in gripping. Digits one and two are opposable against three, four, and five. The first and second digits of the pes are syndactylous.
The skull is pear shaped and widest at the posterior end of the zygomatic arch. With age the supraorbital ridges fuse to form a sagittal crest. The intraorbital trough is broad and shallow. The lacrimal is broadly exposed on the face of the rostrum (Norris, 1999).
The dental formula is 3/1 1/0 2/1 4/4=32. There are also two to three unicuspids of unknown homology between i1 and p3 (Menzies, 1986). The molars are not strongly crenulated. There is a well developed paraconid on m2 (Norris, 1999).
Range mass: 1500 to 2050 g.
Average mass: 1730 g.
Range length: 638 to 717 mm.
Average length: 688 mm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
No anti-predator adaptations have been described for Phalanger lullulae. Phalanger lullulae is the largest species of terrestrial mammal (with the exception of humans) on Woodlark Island, so it may have no predators in the wild (Norris, 1999). The animal is hunted by the people of the island (Flannery, 1995).
Known Predators:
Mating behavior has not been observed in P. lullulae. The only information on reproduction and ontogeny comes from the capture of five females in August 1987. Of these females, one was parous, one had no young, two had naked pouch young, and one had a well grown back young. From this it can be inferred that the breeding season is an extended period (Flannery, 1995).
Key Reproductive Features: gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; viviparous
The Woodlark cuscus (Phalanger lullulae) is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae endemic to Papua New Guinea, specifically on Madau and Woodlark Island, a part of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea.[2] It happens to be the largest mammal living on Woodlark Island but it is also found on the neighboring island of Alcester, 70 kilometers south of Woodlark Island.[3]
The generic name, Phalanger, is of Greek origin and means "spider's web." This name is given in reference to their syndactyly that exists on their hind feet. Its specific name, lullulae, is Latin in origin and is the Latin translation of "Woodlark."[3]
In a phylogenetic tree published in 1987 by Tim Flannery and his colleagues, Phalanger lullulae was believed to share the same states with Phalanger intercastellanus also known as the Eastern common cuscus. A morphological consensus tree shows that the Phalanger lullulae is related to the Mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelatie), Phalanger interpositus, Stein's cuscus (Phalanger vestitus), and the Banggai cuscus (Strigocuscus pelengensis). This phylogenetic tree was created by Tim Flannery and his colleagues in 1987 but was also reanalyzed by Ruedas and Morales in 2005. A partial 12S rRNA ML tree by Ruedas and Morales demonstrated the firstly mentioned relationship between the Phalanger lullulae and Phalanger intercastellanus. The Partial 12S rRNA ML tree by Hamilton and Springer demonstrated that the Phalanger lullulae is most closely related to the Northern common cuscus (Phalanger orientalis). An ML tree of the nuclear gene BRCA1 created by Raterman and his colleagues shows the Phalanger lullulae's close relationship to the Phalanger orientalis as well. While these aforementioned phylogenies are more certain, there is another proposed morphological phylogeny by Flannery that demonstrates the uncertainty of the Phalanger lullulae's relationship among the Phalanger orientalis and Phalanger vestitus.[4]
The Woodlark cuscus is overall a medium-sized marsupial with dark facial skin, very small pink colored ears, and a pink rhinarium.[3] While they are medium-sized, the females, on average, tend to be slightly larger than the males.[3][5]
What sets these cuscuses apart from other diprotodont marsupials is the back part of the cranium not being so exposed to the mastoid.[6] Its skull is in the shape of a pear and its widest portion of the skull can be found in the posterior end of its zygomatic arch. While the molars do not undergo strong crenulation, the nasal bones extend and stop where the premaxilla stops. Its dentition continues with the cingulum being quite large and very well-developed and sitting between the lopids of the lower molars. The backside of the skull where the paroccipital processes are located are longer in comparison to the rest of the skull.[3]
What also sets this marsupial apart from all of the others is its short fur which is marble-like with a mix of white, dark brown, and ginger spots on its back and a white underbelly. Because the mixture is so varied between each Woodlark cuscus, you will never find two of these marsupials with exactly the same coat pattern on its back.[7] While this is true, the species can be divided into two groups: light morphs and dark morphs. Light morphs have the lighter color mixture on their coats so they would have more of the white and ginger colors accompanied by small patches of dark fur. Dark morphs have the darker color mixture on their coats, sporting more of the dark brown along with some patches of white fur.[3] While both morphs are adorned with a dark dorsal stripe on their backs, it is more easily recognizable on the light morphs.[3][5]
The fur continues on along the tail of this possum but abruptly stops once the distal portion of the tail is reached to reveal a hairless tail. This naked part of the tail is dark much like its face and is a bit rugose but since it is also prehensile, it allows for the tail to be used for gripping.[3]
This possum lives its arboreal life in primary and secondary tropical forests with a preference for the dry lowland forest. The hunters on Woodlark Island claim that the Phalanger lullalae finds shelter under the epiphytes and inside tree hollows during the day.[3][7][2] Since the dry lowland forest makes up the Eastern half of Woodlark Island, there is a higher prominence of these possums here compared to the dense rain forests of the Western half of the Island.[3]
The behaviors that occur among male and female Woodlark cuscus before, during, and after mating have not yet been observed. However, the capture of five female Woodlark cuscuses in August 1987 led to the following interesting observations: one of the females were parous but did not have any young while another was clearly lactating. Two others had its naked young in their pouches while one of them had its older young on its back.[7] This transition from the pouch of the mother to the back of the mother as the young age is typical in the Phalanger lullulae because they are metatherians and this transition is typical metatherian behavior.[8] The various states of the young and female cuscuses were in demonstrate that the breeding season most likely happens over a long period of time.[3][7] It has also been noted that they give birth to single young.[2]
Another aspect of the Woodlark cuscus' metatherian identity can be seen the composition of the mother's milk. As the young grow, the carbohydrate, lipid, and protein compositions in the mother's milk fluctuates in accordance to the stage the young Phalanger lullulae is in as it grows. The tiny young will feed on milk that is very dilute and composted of simple sugars while the older ones feed on more concentrated milk.[8]
Thanks to Oxford University's journey to Woodlark Island, they were able to note and monitor the behavior of the Woodlark cuscus by using radio tracking techniques. These studies revealed that the cuscus is a solitary animal and the activities of the cuscus surround the few sleeping trees they come in contact with. They sleep during the day so they are nocturnal and their arboreal lifestyle lends them the opportunity to forage for food in the upper regions of trees while they nest in the lower regions of trees that are designated for sleeping. While foraging, they will make a variety of vocalizations to communicate from barking to snarling as a whining cry which sounds much like that of a human infant. When they interact, they have proven to be quite aggressive towards each other. With four species of bats living on the island, they are seen as potential competitors with the cuscuses.[3] When obtaining food, they may eat the secondary regrowth from the tree and vine Rhus taitensis which grows quickly and contains the nectar which the locals on the island claim that they enjoy.[2] Other sources indicate that they eat two species of vine which have yet to be identified.[7]
Before 1987, there were only eight specimens of Woodlark cuscuses identified so it was believed that the species was in fact on the brink of extinction. Observations in 1987 showed that they are rampant on the Eastern half of Woodlark Island and on Alcester Island, however, they were still considered vulnerable by the IUCN because of their restricted inhabitance.[7] Currently, it is listed as endangered by the IUCN.[2] While the Woodlark cuscus are hunted by the locals, it plays only a small part in the diet of the locals and does not impact its abundance on the islands. The biggest threat to these cuscuses would have to be the planned palm oil development by a Malaysian biofuels company. While it is not known how massive this project is, regardless of its magnitude, it will have adverse effects on the native forests on the island and will mark their end. The introduction of other Phalanger species could be a threat as they are potential competitors as well a means of disease transmission to the native Woodlark cuscus.[2]
The Woodlark cuscus (Phalanger lullulae) is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae endemic to Papua New Guinea, specifically on Madau and Woodlark Island, a part of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. It happens to be the largest mammal living on Woodlark Island but it is also found on the neighboring island of Alcester, 70 kilometers south of Woodlark Island.
