Western Ring-tailed Possum

Open encyclopedia reference

The western ringtail possum or ngwayir (Pseudocheirus occidentalis) is a species of possum found in a small area of Southwest Australia. They are a cat-sized marsupial with a stocky build, dark greyish-brown fur, pale underparts and a long prehensile tail with a whitish tip. Ngwayir forage at night through the upper canopy of trees, feeding on young leaves, flowers and fruit, especially in groves of the weeping peppermint Agonis flexuosa. Breeding occurs mainly during the winter, the single juvenile emerging from the pouch after about three months. The population has declined by more than 95% since British settlement, due to clearing of habitat, fire and the introduction of the red fox Vulpes vulpes, and is classified as Critically Endangered. The population in most areas has catastrophically declined or become locally extinct, but strongholds remain in the urbanised areas near Busselton and Albany.

Wikipedia contributors, Western ringtail possum; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:27:54.751628+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Pseudocheirus occidentalis Thomas, 1888

Name authority

Thomas, 1888

Common name

Western Ring-tailed Possum

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Diprotodontia

Family

Pseudocheiridae

Genus

Pseudocheirus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassMetatheria Huxley, 1880
11. orderDiprotodontia Owen, 1866
12. suborderPhalangeriformes Szalay in Archer, 1982
13. superfamilyPetauroidea Bonaparte, 1838
14. familyPseudocheiridae Winge, 1893
15. subfamilyPseudocheirinae Winge, 1893
16. genusPseudocheirus Ogilby, 1837
17. speciesPseudocheirus occidentalis Thomas, 1888

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 12 records assigned to Pseudocheiridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1255544 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:DTCRD. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.