Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

The main por­tion of the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus range oc­curs in New Guinea (com­prised of In­done­sia and Papua New Guinea) and the Cape York Penin­sula of Aus­tralia, a trop­i­cal re­gion in the north­east­ern por­tion of Aus­tralia. The com­mon spot­ted cus­cus is en­demic to both New Guinea and Aus­tralia. The range of the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus over­laps with the range of south­ern com­mon cus­cus (Pha­langer mim­icus) in New Guinea and in a small por­tion of the Cape York Penin­sula in Aus­tralia. The com­mon spot­ted cus­cus also has a small amount of range over­lap with the com­mon brush­tail pos­sum (Tri­chosu­rus vulpec­ula) in the Cape York Penin­sula. Both the south­ern com­mon cus­cus and the com­mon brush­tail pos­sum be­long to the same fam­ily as the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus, fam­ily Pha­lan­geri­dae. (Hein­sohn, 2002; Hel­gen and Flan­nery, 2004; Stra­han, 1995)

• Biogeographic Regions
• australian
  • native
• oceanic islands
  • native

Habi­tat

In New Guinea, com­mon spot­ted cus­cus are found in sec­ondary forests, and trop­i­cal low­land forests, which are lo­cated from 500 m (sea level) to 1000 m. Within these forests, com­mon spot­ted cus­cus for­age in the un­der­story, sub­canopy, and canopy lay­ers. Com­mon spot­ted cus­cus can also live in close prox­im­ity to human civ­i­liza­tions, where they in­habit agri­cul­tural ma­tri­ces and co­conut plan­ta­tions. In Aus­tralia, com­mon spot­ted cus­cus also in­habit fresh­wa­ter and saline man­grove forests. (Hein­sohn, 2002; Richards and Gamui, 2011; Stra­han, 1995)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• rainforest

• Other Habitat Features
• agricultural
• riparian

• Range elevation

  500 to 1000 m

  1640.42 to 3280.84 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

The com­mon spot­ted cus­cus is a medium sized mar­su­pial mam­mal with a body mass of 3 to 6 kg. Males (body mass 4.0 to 4.8 kg, body length 515 to 555 mm) are typ­i­cally larger than fe­males (body mass 3.0 to 4.1 kg, body length 485 to 525 mm). The av­er­age tail length of fe­male and male com­mon spot­ted cus­cus is 310 to 435 mm. Tails are long, pre­hen­sile, and lack fur, but rough papil­lae are pre­sent on the ven­tral sur­face. The skull of the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus is wide and char­ac­ter­ized by a short ros­trum, thick zy­go­matic arches and large pos­te­rior vacuities on the palate. The com­mon spot­ted cus­cus has diprotodont den­ti­tion with long ca­nines and low crowned lophodont mo­lars. The den­tal for­mula of the fam­ily Pha­lan­geri­dae is 3/2, 1/0, 2-3/2-3, 4/4.

Com­pared to other mam­mals, the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus has a rel­a­tively low basal meta­bolic rate. The av­er­age basal meta­bolic rate of the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus is 6.27 W and their basal body tem­per­a­ture is 34.6°C. This species ex­hibits sex­ual dichro­ma­tism, where male pelage is white with red/brown spots and fe­male pelage is all white with­out spots. Be­fore reach­ing adult pelage col­oration ju­ve­niles have grey downy pelage. Fur of the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus is thick and in­su­la­tive. A ring of yel­low-red skin is pre­sent around the blue-green eye of the com­mon the spot­ted cus­cus. The south­ern com­mon cus­cus, a species that has range over­lap with the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus, has brown pelage with a dor­sal stripe, a longer snout and larger ears than the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus. An­other species that has range over­lap with the spot­ted com­mon cus­cus, the com­mon brush­tail pos­sum has grey pelage, a bushy tail and longer ears com­pared to the spot­ted com­mon cus­cus. (Clemens, et al., 1989; Daw­son and De­gabriele, 1973; Flan­nery, 1995; Hein­sohn, 2002; Hel­gen and Flan­nery, 2004; Long, 2003; Men­zies, 1972; Richards and Gamui, 2011; Saragih, et al., 2010; Sav­age, et al., 2004; Sin­ery, et al., 2012; Stra­han, 1995; Ungar, 2010)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• sexes colored or patterned differently
• male more colorful

• Range mass

  3 to 6 kg

  6.61 to 13.22 lb

• Range length

  348 to 580 mm

  13.70 to 22.83 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  6.27 W

  AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Lit­tle is known about re­pro­duc­tion in the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus, ex­cept that they are a polyg­a­mous species. (Sin­ery, et al., 2012)

Within Pha­lan­geri­dae, the fam­ily to which the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus be­longs, av­er­age lit­ter size is typ­i­cally 1.3 off­spring. The num­ber of off­spring is lim­ited by food avail­abil­ity which in­flu­ences the re­pro­duc­tive ca­pac­ity of in­di­vid­u­als. The com­mon spot­ted cus­cus has a low re­pro­duc­tive rate, where it is typ­i­cal for them to breed only once a year. The ges­ta­tion pe­riod for the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus ranges from 20 to 42 days. Off­spring exit the fe­males pouch at five to seven months of age. Male testes de­scend at eight months and fe­males have an es­trous cycle of twenty-eight days. (Fisher, et al., 2001; Hayssen, et al., 1993; Sin­ery, et al., 2013)

• Key Reproductive Features
• semelparous
• iteroparous
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Common spotted cuscuses typically breed once a year

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 4

• Average number of offspring

  1.3

• Average number of offspring

  2

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  20 to 42 days

• Range time to independence

  5 to 7 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  243 days

  AnAge

Lit­tle is known about parental in­vest­ment in the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus, but moth­ers have been ob­served car­ry­ing off­spring on their back fol­low­ing off­spring emer­gence from the mother's pouch. (Turner, 2004)

• Parental Investment
• female parental care

Lifes­pan/Longevity

In cap­tiv­ity the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus has been doc­u­mented to live for seven to nine years. (Jack­son, 2003)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  7 to 9 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  11.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

The com­mon spot­ted cus­cus is an ar­bo­real species. Al­though they are skilled climbers they have also been doc­u­mented walk­ing be­tween trees and are ca­pa­ble of gal­lop­ing. This species is mainly cre­pus­cu­lar but can also be ac­tive at night. Dur­ing the day the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus can be found sleep­ing in the for­est canopy where they shield them­selves with fo­liage to cam­ou­flage their bod­ies from preda­tors. Com­mon spot­ted cus­cus have been ob­served using be­hav­ioral ther­moreg­u­la­tion, pant­ing and lick­ing their feet, to stay cool. Com­mon spot­ted cus­cus are mainly soli­tary. Cap­tive male com­mon spot­ted cus­cuses are ag­gres­sive and can­not be held in the same en­clo­sure. (Chen, et al., 2005; Clemens, et al., 1989; Hein­sohn, 2002; Long, 2003; Stra­han, 1995; Woinarski, et al., 2014)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• scansorial
• nocturnal
• crepuscular
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary

Home Range

The com­mon spot­ted cus­cus has an av­er­age home range size of one hectare. (Hein­sohn, 2002)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

There is lit­tle known about the com­mu­ni­ca­tion and per­cep­tion in the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus, but fe­males are known to pro­duce a bray call when in oe­strous. Both sexes are known to make sev­eral types of calls, in­clud­ing hiss­ing, screeches and buc­cal clicks. (Clemens, et al., 1989; Stra­han, 1995)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

The com­mon spot­ted cus­cus is a fo­liovore, as its diet mainly con­sists of leaves, such as, leaves of epi­phytic ferns, climbers, Piper betle and Ficus species. The com­mon spot­ted cus­cus will often se­lec­tively con­sume young shoots and leaves. Less fre­quently, com­mon spot­ted cus­cus eat im­ma­ture co­conuts, fruits of Pome­tia pome­tia, in­sects, and small ver­te­brates. (Chen, et al., 2005; Hein­sohn, 2002; La­ti­nis, 1996; Saragih, et al., 2010; Sin­ery, et al., 2013)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• fruit

Pre­da­tion

The main preda­tors of the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus are Kapul ea­gles (Harpy­op­sis no­vaeguineae), white-breasted sea ea­gles (Hali­aee­tus leuco­gaster) and hu­mans (Homo sapi­ens). Com­mon spot­ted cus­cus ex­hibit preda­tor avoid­ance by cam­ou­flag­ing them­selves with sur­round­ing fo­liage when they are rest­ing in trees. (Hein­sohn, 2002)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • Kapul eagles (Harpyopsis novaeguineae)
  • white-breasted sea eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster)
  • humans (Homo sapiens)

Ecosys­tem Roles

There is lit­tle in­for­ma­tion on the ecosys­tem roles of the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus. The com­mon spot­ted cus­cus can be par­a­sitized by ne­ma­todes and ces­todes. The ces­tode species in­clude Bertiella edulis and Bertiella Kapul. Bertiella kapul is a large ces­tode that is found in the small in­tes­tine of the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus. The ne­ma­tode species in­clude Brein­lia sp. and Dipetalonema sp. Over­all, par­a­site di­ver­sity in the Fam­ily Pha­lan­geri­dae, to which the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus be­longs, is much lower com­pared to other metather­ian fam­i­lies. The de­crease in par­a­site di­ver­sity is at­trib­uted to the ar­bo­real lifestyle of Pha­lan­gerids. (Bev­eridge and Spratt, 2015; Bev­eridge, 1985; Clemens, et al., 1989; Ewers, 1973; Spratt, et al., 1991)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Hu­mans (Homo sapi­ens) hunt the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus as a food source or for cloth­ing and ac­ces­sories (bags and hats). In New Guinea, hunt­ing is often done for rit­u­als, such as, birth­days, birthing cer­e­monies, or male ini­ti­a­tion cer­e­monies. Hunters are most com­monly adult and/or ado­les­cent males and hunt­ing is car­ried out in groups of one to ten in­di­vid­u­als. (La­ti­nis, 1996; Richards and Gamui, 2011; Sin­ery, et al., 2013)

• Positive Impacts
• food
• body parts are source of valuable material

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of com­mon spot­ted cus­cus on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

The IUCN lists the com­mon spot­ted cus­cus as a species of least con­cern.

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• CITES

  Appendix II

Con­trib­u­tors

Alyssa Eby (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Man­i­toba, Jane Wa­ter­man (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Man­i­toba, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

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