Dactylopsila trivirgata (Gray 1858) is the extant striped possum, closely related to the sugar glider, Petaurus and the marsupial lion, Thylacoleo. It is an arboreal marsupial the size and proportions of a placental squirrel, but with a prehensile tail. The fourth finger is elongated and used to extract beetles and caterpillars from tree bark. This omnivore also eats leaves, fruit and small vertebrates. Convergent with the extinct placental Apatemys, Dactylopsila has similar teeth.

Spilocuscus kraemeri (Desmarest 1818, snout-vent up to 74cm, tail up to 70cm) is the extant Admiralty Island cuscus a relative of the phalanger, but with a flat parietal, shorter rostrum, higher forehead and fewer molars. Note the strong vomer pterygoid connection. The opisthotics are perforated. The palatine is not at the level of the maxillary palatal plate.

Phalanger orientalis (Pallas 1766; 34 cm in length) is a nocturnal arboreal folivore marsupial known as the Northern common cuscus. Commonly considered a 'possum' the cuscus nests between wombats and kangaroos. Based on phylogeny, the lower incisors are gone, replaced with large lower canines that meet medially like typical incisors. They maintain their traditional relationship to the upper canines.

Cooke BN 2000. Cranial remains of a new species of balbarine kangaroo (Marsupalia: Macropodoidea) from the Oligo-Miocene freshwater limestone deposits of Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Northern Australia. Journal of Paleontology 74(2) 317-26.

Demarest 1818. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1861:316.

Gray JE 1858. List of species of Mammalia sent from the Aru Islands by Mr A.R. Wallace to the British Museum. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 26: 106–113.

Pallas 1766. Miscellanea Zoologica.

wiki/Phalanger
wiki/Phalangeridae
wiki/Admiralty_Island_cuscus
wiki/Striped_possum - Dactylopsila trivirgata