CreatureData

Mountain cuscus

Phalanger carmelitae Thomas, 1898

LCLeast Concernmarsupials

The mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae) is a species in the family Phalangeridae, order Diprotodontia. Recorded adults weigh 1.84 kg to 2.05 kg and live up to 2.49 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae)
Photo: Heath Warwick · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the mountain cuscus

Weight
1.84 kg – 2.05 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
2.49 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Herbivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
1.01src for Young per litter or clutch
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 mountain 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 mountain cuscus 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

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

What is the mountain cuscus?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae) is a marsupial in the family Phalangeridae found throughout the central mountain ranges and Huon Peninsula of New Guinea, in both West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It lives in undisturbed montane forests at elevations between 1,350 and 3,800 m (4,430 and 12,470 ft). The species is nocturnal and arboreal, feeding mainly on leaves and fruit. It was first described by Oldfield Thomas in 1898 and includes two recognized subspecies. The mountain cuscus is currently listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

From the Wikipedia article “Mountain cuscus” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mountain_cuscus&oldid=1352404618), 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 mountain cuscus endangered?

The mountain cuscus 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.

How is the mountain cuscus classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderDiprotodontia
  5. familyPhalangeridae
  6. genusPhalanger
  7. SpeciesPhalanger carmelitae Thomas, 1898
Other names and names in other languages (13)
  • Mountain PhalangerEnglish
  • كسكس جبليArabic
  • kuskus horskýCzech
  • BergkuskusGerman
  • Cuscus de MontañaSpanish
  • uuden-guineankuskusFinnish
  • Couscous de montagneFrench
  • ヤマクスクスJapanese
  • FjellkuskusNorwegian Bokmål
  • BergkoeskoesDutch
  • pałanka górskaPolish
  • Cuscus-de-MontanhaPortuguese
  • Горный кускусRussian

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the mountain cuscus

Other species in the same genus Phalanger.

CR, Critically Endangered

Telefomin cuscus

Phalanger matanim

PhalangeridaeNo free photo yet

CompareMountain cuscus vs Ground cuscusMountain cuscus vs Northern common cuscusMountain cuscus vs Ornate cuscusMountain cuscus vs Telefomin cuscus

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the mountain cuscus?

An adult mountain cuscus weighs 1.84 kg – 2.05 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the mountain cuscus live?

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

Is the mountain cuscus endangered?

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

How long does the mountain cuscus live?

The mountain cuscus has a recorded lifespan of 2.49 years.

What kind of animal is the mountain cuscus?

The mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae) 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.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-cuscus

MLA

“Mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-cuscus.

BibTeX
@misc{mountain_cuscus_2026,
  title = {Mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-cuscus},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}