CreatureData

Feather-tailed possum

Distoechurus pennatus (Peters, 1874)

LCLeast Concernmarsupials

The feather-tailed possum (Distoechurus pennatus) is a species in the family Acrobatidae, order Diprotodontia. Recorded adults weigh 44.1 g to 52.1 g and live up to 1.5 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Feather-tailed possum (Distoechurus pennatus)
Photo: Daniel · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the feather-tailed possum

Weight
44.1 g – 52.1 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
1.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Herbivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
2 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
1.16src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
2src 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 feather-tailed possum 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 feather-tailed possum is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the feather-tailed possum?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The feather-tailed possum (Distoechurus pennatus) is a species of marsupial in the family Acrobatidae. It is found in West Papua and Papua New Guinea. It is not to be confused with the feathertail glider, the only other species in the family Acrobatidae.

From the Wikipedia article “Feather-tailed possum” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Feather-tailed_possum&oldid=1381899909), 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 feather-tailed possum endangered?

The feather-tailed possum is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the feather-tailed possum classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderDiprotodontia
  5. familyAcrobatidae
  6. genusDistoechurus
  7. SpeciesDistoechurus pennatus (Peters, 1874)

Synonyms Distoechurus amoenus, Distoechurus dryas, Distoechurus neuhassi, Phalangista pennata

Other names and names in other languages (17)
  • Feathertail possumEnglish
  • Feathertail possumEnglish
  • بوسوم ريشي الذيلArabic
  • vakoplšík péroocasýCzech
  • FederschwanzbeutlerGerman
  • falangero de cola plumosaSpanish
  • uuden-guineanakrobaattiFinnish
  • Phalanger à queue plumeuseFrench
  • Posum Ekor-buluIndonesian
  • ニセフクロモモンガJapanese
  • FjærhalepossumNorwegian Bokmål
  • FjærhalepungekornNorwegian Bokmål
  • VederstaartbuidelmuisDutch
  • dziuplówka pióroogonowaPolish
  • Possum-cauda-de-plumaPortuguese
  • Gambá-pigmeu-cauda-de-plumaPortuguese
  • Перьехвостый кускусRussian

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the feather-tailed possum

Other species in the same family Acrobatidae.

CompareFeather-tailed possum vs Feathertail gliderFeather-tailed possum vs De Vis's feathertail gliderFeather-tailed possum vs Acrobates pulchellus

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the feather-tailed possum?

An adult feather-tailed possum weighs 44.1 g – 52.1 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the feather-tailed possum live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the feather-tailed possum for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the feather-tailed possum endangered?

The feather-tailed possum is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the feather-tailed possum live?

The feather-tailed possum has a recorded lifespan of 1.5 years.

What kind of animal is the feather-tailed possum?

The feather-tailed possum (Distoechurus pennatus) belongs to the family Acrobatidae in the order Diprotodontia.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Feather-tailed possum (Distoechurus pennatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/feather-tailed-possum

MLA

“Feather-tailed possum (Distoechurus pennatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/feather-tailed-possum.

BibTeX
@misc{feather_tailed_possum_2026,
  title = {Feather-tailed possum (Distoechurus pennatus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/feather-tailed-possum},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}