Dactylonax kambuayai (Aplin in Aplin et al., 1999:373)
Pygmy long-fingered possum, Vogelkop striped possum, Vogelkop ringtail possum, Arfak striped possum
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Dactylopsila kambuayai Aplin in Aplin et al., 1999:373
Originally described in the genus Dactylopsila, it was transferred to the genus Dactylonax by Flannery et al. (2026).
Conservation Status
Last record: mid-Holocene (Aplin et al., 1999)
Since Rediscovered (Jackson, 2015; MDD, 2025; Flannery et al., 2026)
The species was described from mid-Holocene subfosisl remains (Aplin et al., 1999), and was expected to still be extant by Dr. Kristofer Helgen (Helgen, 2007), but it was subsequently considered Extinct by some authorities (Turvey, 2009; Turveys & Fritz, 2011). Two fluid preserved modern specimens, that had previously been misidentified as Dactylonax palpator, were uncovered by the late Dr. Kenneth Aplin and discussed by Jackson (2015). Further modern records of the species have been made since 2023 as documented in Flannery et al. (2026).
Distribution & Habitat
Arfak Mountains, Bird's Head Peninsula (=Vogelkop Peninsula), Irian Jaya, Indonesia, New Guinea
Type locality: “Kria Cave, 3 km east of the village Suwiam/Mapura, northeast of the Ayamaru Lakes, Ayamaru Plateau, central Bird’s Head [= Vogelkop], Irian Jaya, Indonesia.” (Aplin et al., 1999)
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Aplin, Kenneth Peter. In: Aplin, Kenneth Peter, Pasveer, Juliette M. and Boles, Walter E. (1999). Late Quaternary vertebrates from the Bird’s Head Peninsula, Irian Jaya, Indonesia, including descriptions of two previously unknown marsupial species. 6th Conference on Australasian vertebrate evolution, palaeontology and systematics, and extinction Records of the Western Australian Museum 57(suppl.): 351-387.
Other references:
Eldridge, M. D., Beck, R. M., Croft, D. A., Travouillon, K. J. and Fox, B. J. (2019). An emerging consensus in the evolution, phylogeny, and systematics of marsupials and their fossil relatives (Metatheria). Journal of Mammalogy 100(3): 802-837.
Flannery, Timothy F., Aplin, Kenneth P., Bocos, Carlos, Koungoulos, Loukas G. and Helgen, Kristofer M. (2026). Found alive after 6,000 years: modern records of an ‘extinct’ Papuan marsupial, Dactylonax kambuayai (Marsupialia: Petauridae), with a revision of the systematics and zoogeography of the genus Dactylonax. In: Contributions to the Mammalogy of New Guinea, ed. Tim F. Flannery and Kristofer M. Helgen. Records of the Australian Museum 78(1): 17-34. https://doi.org/10.3853/j.2201-4349.78.2026.3003
Jackson, Stephen M. (2015). Family Petauridae (striped possums, Leadbeater’s possum, and lesser gliders), pp. 532-567. In: Handbook of Mammals of the World, volume 5, Monotremes and Marsupials. Wilson, D. E. and Mittermeier, R. A. (eds.). Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.
Jackson, Stephen M., Travouillon, Kenny J., Beck, Robin, M. D., Archer, Michael, Hand, Suzanne J., Helgen, Kristofer M., Fitzgerald, Erich M. G. and Price, Gilbert J. (2024). An annotated checklist of Australasian fossil mammals. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 48(4): 548-746. https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2024.2434062
MDD (Mammal Diversity Database). (2025). Dactylopsila kambuayai (ASM Mammal Diversity Database #1000334) fetched 2 March 2025. Mammal Diversity Database. Available at: https://www.mammaldiversity.org/
Mittermeier, Russell A. and Wilson, Don E. (eds.). (2015). Petauridae. In: Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 5 Monotremes and Marsupials, pp. 52-565 [50]. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.
Pasveer, J. M. (1998). Kria Cave: an 8000-year occupation sequence from the Bird’s Head of Irian Jaya, pp. 67-89. In: Bartstra, G.-J. (ed.). Bird’s Head approaches: Irian Jaya studies—a programme for interdisciplinary research. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema.
Travouillon, Kenny J., Jackson, Stephen, Beck, Robin M. D., Louys, Julien, Cramb, Jonathan, Gillespie, Anna, Black, Karen, Hand, Suzanne, Archer, Michael, Kear, Benjamin, Hocknull, Scott, Phillips, Matthew, McDowell, Matthew, Fitzgerald, Erich M. G., Brewer, Phillipa and Price, Gilbert J. (2025). Checklist of the Fossil Mammal Species of Australia and New Guinea. Available from: https://www.australasianpalaeontologists.com/national-fossil-species-lists [Accessed 24 November 2024]
Turvey, Samuel T. (2009). Holocene mammal extinctions, pp. 41-61. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK & New York, USA: Oxford University Press. xii + 352 pp.
Turvey, Samuel T. and Fritz, Susanne A. (2011). The ghosts of mammals past: biological and geographical patterns of global mammalian extinction across the Holocene. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366(1577): 2564-2576. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0020 [Supplementary Information]
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/6272/dactylopsila-kambuayai
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