CreatureData

Telefomin cuscus

Phalanger matanim Flannery, 1987

CRCritically Endangeredmarsupials

The telefomin cuscus (Phalanger matanim) is a species in the family Phalangeridae, order Diprotodontia. Recorded adults weigh 1.44 kg to 1.55 kg. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Critically Endangered.

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Quick facts about the telefomin cuscus

Weight
1.44 kg – 1.55 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Herbivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
1.02src for Young per litter or clutch
Active
At night (nocturnal)src for Active
Lifestyle
Arborealsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the telefomin 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 telefomin 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 telefomin cuscus?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The Telefomin cuscus (Phalanger matanim) is a critically endangered possum found on New Guinea. It is named after the Telefol ethnic group, who hunted the animal long before it was identified scientifically by the Australian zoologist Tim Flannery.

From the Wikipedia article “Telefomin cuscus” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Telefomin_cuscus&oldid=1352903702), 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 telefomin cuscus endangered?

The telefomin cuscus is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

  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 Critically Endangered species.

How is the telefomin cuscus classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderDiprotodontia
  5. familyPhalangeridae
  6. genusPhalanger
  7. SpeciesPhalanger matanim Flannery, 1987
Other names and names in other languages (12)
  • Matanim cuscusEnglish
  • كسكس تليفومينArabic
  • kuskus bělobřichýCzech
  • Telefomin-KuskusGerman
  • Hörnchen-KletterbeutlerGerman
  • Cuscus de TelefonimSpanish
  • papuankuskusFinnish
  • Couscous de TelefominFrench
  • テレフォミンクスクスJapanese
  • pałanka opalonaPolish
  • Cuscus-de-TelefonimPortuguese
  • Телефоминский кускусRussian

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the telefomin cuscus

Other species in the same genus Phalanger.

CompareTelefomin cuscus vs Ground cuscusTelefomin cuscus vs Northern common cuscusTelefomin cuscus vs Ornate cuscusTelefomin cuscus vs Mountain cuscus

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the telefomin cuscus?

An adult telefomin cuscus weighs 1.44 kg – 1.55 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the telefomin cuscus live?

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

Is the telefomin cuscus endangered?

The telefomin cuscus is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

What kind of animal is the telefomin cuscus?

The telefomin cuscus (Phalanger matanim) 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). Telefomin cuscus (Phalanger matanim). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/telefomin-cuscus

MLA

“Telefomin cuscus (Phalanger matanim).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/telefomin-cuscus.

BibTeX
@misc{telefomin_cuscus_2026,
  title = {Telefomin cuscus (Phalanger matanim)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/telefomin-cuscus},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}