CreatureData

Honey possum

Tarsipes rostratus Gervais & Verreaux, 1842

LCLeast Concernmarsupials

The honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus) is a species in the family Tarsipedidae, order Diprotodontia. Recorded adults weigh 9 g to 10 g and live up to 2 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus)
Photo: John Gould · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the honey possum

Weight
9 g – 10 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
2 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Nectarivoresrc for Diet
Main food
nectar, pollensrc for Main food
Habitat
Not recorded
Gestation
61.3 dayssrc for Gestation
Young per litter or clutch
2.97src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
5.82 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
3src 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 honey 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 honey 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 honey possum?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The honey possum or noolbenger (Tarsipes rostratus), is a tiny species of marsupial in the genus Tarsipes, which is assigned to the monotypic diprotodont family Tarsipedidae. The name of the genus means "tarsier-foot", given for a resemblance to tarsier's simian-like feet and toes noted by the earliest descriptions.

This species feeds on the nectar and pollen of a diverse range of flowering plants. Endemic to southwest Australia, it is an important pollinator for such plants as Banksia attenuata, Banksia coccinea and Adenanthos cuneatus.

From the Wikipedia article “Honey possum” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Honey_possum&oldid=1384682451), 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 honey possum endangered?

The honey 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 honey possum classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderDiprotodontia
  5. familyTarsipedidae
  6. genusTarsipes
  7. SpeciesTarsipes rostratus Gervais & Verreaux, 1842

Synonyms Tarsipes spenserae

Other names and names in other languages (22)
  • NoolbengerEnglish
  • أبوسوم العسلArabic
  • Хобатнагаловы кускусBelarusian
  • possum medosavýCzech
  • HonigbeutlerGerman
  • RüsselbeutlerGerman
  • NulbengarSpanish
  • Falangero mieleroSpanish
  • mesipussikiipijäFinnish
  • KärsäpussipäästäinenFinnish
  • Possum a mielFrench
  • souris à mielFrench
  • フクロミツスイJapanese
  • NektarpossumNorwegian Bokmål
  • HonningpungmusNorwegian Bokmål
  • SlurfbuidelmuisDutch
  • OstronógPolish
  • ostronóg kwiatowyPolish
  • Possum-do-MelPortuguese
  • Поссум-медоедRussian
  • Хоботноголовый кускусRussian
  • ฮันนี่พอสซั่มThai

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the honey possum

Other species in the same order Diprotodontia.

VU, Vulnerable
Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)

Koala

Phascolarctos cinereus

Phascolarctidae

VU, Vulnerable
Quokka (Setonix brachyurus)

Quokka

Setonix brachyurus

Macropodidae

CompareHoney possum vs KoalaHoney possum vs QuokkaHoney possum vs Eastern grey kangarooHoney possum vs Common wombat

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the honey possum?

An adult honey possum weighs 9 g – 10 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the honey possum live?

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

Is the honey possum endangered?

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

What does the honey possum eat?

Its recorded main food is nectar and pollen.

How long does the honey possum live?

The honey possum has a recorded lifespan of 2 years.

How long is the honey possum pregnant?

The recorded gestation period is 61.3 days.

What kind of animal is the honey possum?

The honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus) belongs to the family Tarsipedidae 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). Honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/honey-possum

MLA

“Honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/honey-possum.

BibTeX
@misc{honey_possum_2026,
  title = {Honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/honey-possum},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}