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Australasian Journal of Herpetology 42:11-22. Published 25 April 2020. Small and overlooked … six new species of Pygmy Possum, Genus Cercartetus Gloger, 1841 sensu lato from the Australasian bioregion. LSID URN:LSID:ZOOBANK.ORG:PUB:AEC58004-7BD2-4BC1-A6D4-63A29BB62FD3 RAYMOND T. HOSER LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:author:F9D74EB5-CFB5-49A0-8C7C-9F993B8504AE 488 Park Road, Park Orchards, Victoria, 3134, Australia. Phone: +61 3 9812 3322 Fax: 9812 3355 E-mail: snakeman (at) snakeman.com.au Received 30 March 2020, Accepted 5 April 2020, Published 25 April 2020. ABSTRACT Cercartetus Gloger, 1841, better known as the iconic Pygmy Possums are a commonly seen and familiar element of the native Australasian mammal fauna to biologists and lay people alike. While numerous forms have been described as species, as listed by Bannister et al. (1988), the taxonomy in recent years has been stable, with just four species being widely recognized. A molecular phylogeny published by Osborne and Christidis (2002) indicated that based on molecular divergences there were at least six species in the genus, five of which had available names. However as of 2019 no change to the current taxonomy or nomenclature had been formally proposed or widely adopted since at least 1934. Before formally naming the newly identified species of Osborne and Christidis (2002), all specimens of all putative species within the genus from across the known ranges of each, were examined in terms of their identification, taxonomy and nomenclature. The result was five species for which names were available and already being used (one being treated as a subspecies) and six others for which no names were available. Therefore these are formally named herein in accordance with the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Ride et al. 1999). Each of the six identified species (five for the first time) are morphologically divergent from their nearest congeners, reproductively isolated and geographically allopatric and separated by biogeographical barriers of known antiquity, forming a body of evidence giving a sound scientific basis for the decision to name each. With the so-called C. caudatus linage (Long-tailed Pygmy Possum) having a16-27 MYA divergence from other members of the genus (Osborne and Christidis, 2002), and morphological divergence, a strong case is made for the creation of a separate genus or subgenus for this lineage. The name Eudromicia Mjöberg, 1916 is available and therefore used. Eudromicia has been recognized in the past as a genus by Iredale and Troughton (1934). The newly named species are Cercartetus hoserae sp. nov., from north-west Victoria and nearby parts of South Australia, previously identified as a population of C. lepidus Thomas, 1888; and four others, being Eudromicia adelynhoserae sp. nov. from North Queensland, E. jackyhoserae sp. nov. from south-east Papua New Guinea (PNG), E. richardwellsi sp. nov. from the central Highlands of PNG, E. rosswellingtoni sp. nov. from the western highlands of West Papua (Irian Jaya) Indonesia and E. doriskuenae sp. nov. from high altitude areas of the Finisterre Range in Madang and Morobe Provinces, PNG, all formerly identified as populations of C. caudatus (Milne-Edwards, 1877). This paper effectively doubles the number of known extant species within the genus Cercartetus. Keywords: Mammals; Marsupial; taxonomy; nomenclature; Pygmy Possum; Cercartetus; Eudromicia; Victoria; Australia; Queensland; Irian Jaya; New Guinea; Papua; lepidus; caudatus; nanus; concinnus; macrurus; new species; hoserae; richardwellsi; adelynhoserae; rosswellingtoni; jackyhoserae; doriskuenae
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