Ailurops ursinus ( Temminck, 1824 )

Jackson, Stephen M., Jansen, Justin J. F. J., Baglione, Gabrielle & Callou, Cécile, 2021, Mammals collected and illustrated by the Baudin Expedition to Australia and Timor (1800 - 1804): A review of the current taxonomy of specimens in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle de Paris and the illustrations in the Muséum d’Histoire naturelle du Havre, Zoosystema 43 (21), pp. 387-548 : 409-410

Phalangista ursina Temminck, 1824

( Fig. 24 )

Phalangista ursina Temminck, 1824: 10 .

COMMON NAME. — Common Bear Cuscus.

CURRENT NAME. — Ailurops ursinus ( Temminck, 1824) .

See Groves (2005a: 45), and Helgen & Jackson (2015: 485).

COLLECTOR/S. — Donated by General Charles-Mathieu-Isidore Decaen (1769-1832) who received birds and mammals caught at the Moluccas, and transported by Simon Nicolaasz Dekker (1757- 1824) ( Jansen 2014: 10). COLLECTION LOCALITY. — Île Mindanao , Célèbes (Sulawesi), Indonesia. COLLECTION DATE. — Between 7 August and 16 December 1803. SPECIMEN NUMBER/S. — MNHN-ZM-AC-A2597 ( Fig. 24 ), nontype skull .

OTHER NUMBER/S. — CAG I-768.

COMMENTS. — Specimen entry for MNHN-ZM-AC-A2597 ( Fig. 24 ) refers to the Baudin expedition. It appears this specimen came from General Charles-Mathieu-Isidore Decaen then Governor General of Île de France ( Mauritius) who donated some living mammals and a Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius that were caught on the Moluccas, and transported by Simon Nicolaasz Dekker [1757-1824], as were other species from Sumatra and New Guinea ( Jansen 2014: 10). Temminck’s (1824: 10-12) description of this species is based on specimens collected by Mr. Reinwardt from the Moluccas expedition where it was collected on “l’île Célèbes ” (Sulawesi). Temminck (1824: 12) noted that “They live in great numbers in the dense woods of the northern parts of the island, and the inhabitants do not conceive of varieties in this species; they eat the flesh. They are seen little during the day, then huddled at the bunching of the branches and hidden under the foliage of the trees.” Temminck (1824: 12) also noted that “The museum in the Netherlands has two large individuals, two skeletons of adults, and several young, both skeletal. A subject from the same trip, and a little removed from the adult state, is deposited in the galleries of the Paris museum.”

Figures

FIG. 24. — MNHN-ZM-AC-A2597, non-type skull of Phalangista ursina Temminck, 1824. Scale bar: 2 cm. Photography by Cécile Callou. Credits: MNHN.