Australian Biological Resources Study

Australian Faunal Directory

Species Petaurus breviceps Waterhouse, 1839

Museums

Regional Maps

CAVS: 1138

Species Petaurus breviceps Waterhouse, 1839

Sugar Glider

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia


IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

Glider, gregarious, mellivore, nocturnal, open forest, predator, sap-feeder, subtropical, tall open forest, woodland.

 

General References

Bradley, A.J. & Stoddart, D.M. 1993. The dorsal paracloacal gland and its relationship with seasonal changes in cutaneous scent gland morphology and plasma androgen in the marsupial sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps: Marsupialia: Petauridae). Journal of Zoology, London 229: 331-346

Braithwaite, L.W., Binns, D.L. & Nowlan, R.D. 1988. The distribution of arboreal marsupials in relation to eucalypt forest types in the Eden (NSW) Woodchip Concession Area. Australian Wildlife Research 15: 363-373

Carthew, S.M. 1994. Foraging behaviour of marsupial pollinators in a population of Banksia spinulosa. Oikos 69: 133-139

Colgan, D.J. & Flannery, T.F. 1992. Biochemical systematic studies in the genus Petaurus (Marsupialia: Petauridae). Australian Journal of Zoology 40: 245-256 [Thomas, O. 1888. Catalogue of the Marsupialia and Monotremata in the Collection of the British Museum (Natural History). London : British Museum xiii 401 pp. 28 pls [3 Nov. 1888]]

Goldingay, R.L. 1984. Photoperiodic control of diel activity in the sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps). pp. 385-391 in Smith, A. & Hume, I. (eds). Possums and Gliders. Sydney : Surrey Beatty & Sons, Australian Mammal Society 598 pp.

Goldingay, R.L., Carthew, S.M. & Whelan, R.J. 1991. The importance of non-flying mammals in pollination. Oikos 61: 79-87

Henry, S.R. & Suckling, G.C. 1984. A review of the ecology of the Sugar glider (Petaureus breviceps). pp. 355-358 in Smith, A. & Hume, I. (eds). Possums and Gliders. Sydney : Surrey Beatty & Sons, Australian Mammal Society 598 pp.

Howard, J. 1989. Diet of Petaurus breviceps (Marsupialia: Petauridae) in a mosaic of coastal woodland and heath. Australian Mammalogy 12: 15-21

Jackson, S. 1994. Sugar glider or squirrel glider - determined the difference. Thylacinus, Journal of the Australian Society of Zookeepers 19: 4-10

Jackson, S.M. 2000. Habitat relationships of the mahogany glider Petaurus gracilis and the sugar glider Petaurus breviceps. Wildlife Research 27: 39-48

Johnson-Murray, J.L. 1987. The comparative myology of the gliding membranes of Acrobates, Petauroides and Petaurus contrasted with the cutaneous myology of Hemibelideus and Pseudocheirus (Marsupialia: Phalangeridae) and with selected gliding Rodentia (Sciuridae and Anomaluridae). Australian Journal of Zoology 35: 101-113

Jolly, C.J., Moore, H.A., Cowan, M.A., Cremona, T., Dunlop, J.A., Legge, S.M., Linley, G.D, Miritis, V., Woinarski, J.C.Z. & Nimmo, D.G. 2022. Taxonomic revision reveals potential impacts of Black Summer megafires on a cryptic species. Pacific Conservation Biology 29(1): 17-25

Kleinknecht, S. 1985. Lack of social entrainment of free-running circadian activity rhythms in the Australian sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps: Marsupialia). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 16: 189-193

Kleinknecht, S., Erkert, H.G. & Nelson, J.E. 1985. Circadian and ultradian rhythms of activity and O2 consumption in three nocturnal marsupial species: Petaurus breviceps, Phalangeridae; Dasyuroides byrnei, Dasyuridae; Monodelphis domestica, Didelphidae. Zeitschrift fur Säugetierkunde 50: 321-329

Klettenheimer, B.S., Temple-Smith, P.D. & Sofroniodis, G. 1997. Father and son sugar gliders: more than a genetic coalition? Journal of Zoology, London 242: 741-750

Lindenmayer, D.B. & Cunningham, R.B. 1997. Patterns of co-occurrence among marsupials in the forests of central Victoria, southeastern Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 22: 340-346

Lunney, D. 1987. Effects of logging, fire and drought on possums and gliders in the coastal forests near Bega, NSW. Australian Wildlife Research 14: 263-274

Malekian, M., Cooper, S.J.B. & Carthew, S.M. 2010. Phylogeography of the Australian sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps): evidence for a new divergent lineage in eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 58(3): 165-181

Mallick, J., Stoddardt, D.M., Jones, I. & Bradley, A.J. 1994. Behavioural and endocrinological correlates of social status in the male sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps Marsupialia : Petauridae). Physiology and Behaviour 55: 1131-1134

Moore, S.J. & Sanson, G.D. 1995. A comparison of the molar efficiency of two insect-eating mammals. Journal of Zoology, London 235: 175-192

Nagy, K.A. & Suckling, G.C. 1985. Field energetics and water balance of sugar gliders, Petaurus breviceps (Marsupialia: Petauridae). Australian Journal of Zoology 33: 683-691

Quin, D.G. 1995. Population ecology of the squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) and the sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) (Marsupialia, Petauridae) at Limeburners Creek, on the central north coast of New South Wales. Wildlife Research 22: 471-505

Quin, D.G., Smith, A.P., Green, S.W. & Hines, H.B. 1992. Estimating the home ranges of sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) (Marsupialia: Petauridae), from grid-trapping and radiotelemetry. Wildlife Research 19: 471-487

Quin, D.G., Smith, A.P. & Norton, T.W. 1996. Eco-geographical variation in size and sexual dimorphism in sugar gliders and squirrel gliders (Marsupialia, Petauridae). Australian Journal of Zoology 1996: 19-45

Roach, K. & Kreuger, B. 1989. The release of captive sugar gliders into Coranderrk Reserve, Healesville. Thylacinus, Journal of the Australian Society of Zookeepers 14(2): 9-12

Smith, A.P. 1982. Diet and feeding strategies of the marsupial sugar glider in temperate Australia. Journal of Animal Ecology 51: 149-166

Smith, A.P. & Green, S.W. 1987. Nitrogen requirements of the sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps), an omnivorous marsupial, on a honey-pollen diet. Physiological Zoology 60: 82-92

Smith, M.J. 1973. Petaurus breviceps. Mammalian Species 30: 1-5

Smith, M.J. 1984. The reproductive system and paracloacal glands of Petaurus breviceps and Gymnobelideus leadbeateri (Marsupialia: Petauridae). pp. 321-330 in Smith, A. & Hume, I. (eds). Possums and Gliders. Sydney : Surrey Beatty & Sons, Australian Mammal Society 598 pp.

Stoddart, D.M., Bradley, A.J. & Mallick, J. 1994. Plasma testosterone concentrations, body weight, social dominance and scent marking in male sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps; Marsupialia: Petauridae). Journal of Zoology, London 232: 595-601

Stoddart, D.M. & Bradley, A.J. 1991. The frontal and gular scent organs of the marsupial sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps). Journal of Zoology, London 225: 1-12

Stoddart, M., Bradley, A.J. & Hynes, K.L. 1992. Olfactory biology of the marsupial sugar glider - a preliminary study. pp. 523-528 in Doty, R.L. & Muller-Schwarze, D. (eds). Chemical signals in vertebrates. New York : Plenum.

Suckling, G.C. 1984. Population ecology of the sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps, in a system of fragmented habitats. Australian Wildlife Research 11: 49-76

Suckling, G.C. 1984. Population ecology of the sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps, in a system of fragmented habitats. Australian Wildlife Research 11: 49-75

Suckling, G.C. 1995. Sugar Glider Petaurus breviceps. pp. 229-231 in Strahan, R. (ed.). The Mammals of Australia: The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife. Sydney : Reed New Holland 756 pp.

Suckling, G.C. & Goldstraw, P. 1989. Progress of sugar glider Petaurus breviceps, establishment at the Tower Hill State Game Reserve, Vic. Victorian Naturalist 106: 179-183

Suckling, G.C. & Macfarlane 1983. Introduction of the sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps, into re-established forest of the Tower Hill State Game Reserve, Vic. Australian Wildlife Research 10: 249-258

Traill, B.J. & Lill, A. 1997. Use of tree hollows by two sympatric gliding possums, the squirrel glider, Petaurus norfolcensis, and the sugar glider, P. breviceps. Australian Mammalogy 20: 79-88

van Tets, I.G. 1998. Can flower-feeding marsupials meet their nitrogen requirements on pollen in the field? Australian Mammalogy 20: 383-390

van Tets, I.G. & Whelan, R.J. 1997. Banksia pollen in the diet of Australian mammals. Ecography 20: 499-505

Wilson, S.C. & Whelan, R.J. 1993. Prey camouflage in the sugar glider and predatory response by the variable goshawk. pp. 337-343 in Olsen, P. (ed.). Australian raptor studies. Moonee Ponds : Australasian Raptor Association, R.A.O.U. 344 pp.

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
07-Feb-2024 29-Oct-2010 MOVED
29-Oct-2010 29-Oct-2010 MOVED
12-Feb-2010 (import)