Common spotted cuscus
Spilocuscus maculatus (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803)
The common spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus) is a species in the family Phalangeridae, order Diprotodontia. Recorded adults weigh 4.16 kg to 5.11 kg and live up to 12.1 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Quick facts about the common spotted cuscus
- Weight
- 4.16 kg – 5.11 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 12.1 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 17 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 13 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1.63src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 7.29 months – 7.98 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Arborealsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the common spotted cuscus live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The common spotted cuscus is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the common spotted cuscus?
The common spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus), also known as the white cuscus, is a cuscus, a marsupial that lives in the Cape York region of Australia, New Guinea, and nearby smaller islands.
From the Wikipedia article “Common spotted cuscus” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Common_spotted_cuscus&oldid=1376981986), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the common spotted cuscus endangered?
The common spotted cuscus is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the common spotted cuscus classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderDiprotodontia
- familyPhalangeridae
- genusSpilocuscus
- SpeciesSpilocuscus maculatus (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803)
Synonyms Cuscus chrysorrhous var. goldiei, Phalangista maculata, Spilocuscus maculatus chrysorrhous, Spilocuscus maculatus goldiei, Spilocuscus maculatus maculatus
Other names and names in other languages (24)
- Short-tailed spotted cuscusEnglish
- Short-tailed spotted cuscusEnglish
- Spotted PhalangerEnglish
- Spotted PhalangerEnglish
- كسكس منقط شائعArabic
- كسكس منقط قصير الذيلArabic
- Плямісты кускусBelarusian
- kuskus skvrnitýCzech
- plettet kuskusDanish
- Eigentlicher TüpfelkuskusGerman
- cuscús moteadoSpanish
- Cuscús ManchadoSpanish
- täpläkuskusFinnish
- Couscous tachetéFrench
- Phalanger tachetéFrench
- Foltos kuszkuszHungarian
- Kuskus TutulIndonesian
- ブチクスクスJapanese
- FlekkuskusNorwegian Bokmål
- Gevlekte KoeskoesDutch
- KuskusPolish
- kuskus plamistyPolish
- Cuscus-ManchadoPortuguese
- Пятнистый кускусRussian
Relatives of the common spotted cuscus
Other species in the same genus Spilocuscus.

Black-spotted cuscus
Spilocuscus rufoniger
Waigeou cuscus
Spilocuscus papuensis
Admiralty island cuscus
Spilocuscus kraemeri
Biak spotted cuscus
Spilocuscus wilsoni
Australian spotted cuscus
Spilocuscus nudicaudatus
CompareCommon spotted cuscus vs Black-spotted cuscusCommon spotted cuscus vs Waigeou cuscusCommon spotted cuscus vs Admiralty island cuscusCommon spotted cuscus vs Biak spotted cuscus
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the common spotted cuscus?
An adult common spotted cuscus weighs 4.16 kg – 5.11 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the common spotted cuscus live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the common spotted cuscus for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the common spotted cuscus endangered?
The common spotted cuscus is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the common spotted cuscus live?
The common spotted cuscus has a recorded lifespan of 12.1 years.
How long is the common spotted cuscus pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 13 days.
What kind of animal is the common spotted cuscus?
The common spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus) belongs to the family Phalangeridae in the order Diprotodontia.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Common spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-spotted-cuscus
“Common spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-spotted-cuscus.
@misc{common_spotted_cuscus_2026,
title = {Common spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-spotted-cuscus},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}