D'Albertis' Silver Green Ringtail Possum (Pseudochirops albertisii) of New Guinea and Yapen Island

Diminutive size and silver-green coloring are what D’Albertis’ ringtail possum is known for. But scientists consider other characteristics when it comes to common names and binomial (“two-name”) taxonomy. For example, the silver-green marsupial mammal in question just gets called D’Albertis’ ringtail possum in English. The common name honors Luigi Maria D’Albertis (November 21, 1841 – September 2, 1901), a Genoa-born Italian botanist, ethnologist, and zoologist who explored New Guinea in 1871 – 1877, navigated the Fly River in the New South Wales government launch Neva, and retrieved specimens of area wildlife and of cannibalized humans (including the severed head of an elderly lady).

The scientific name Pseudochirops albertisii additionally memorializes the “false hand” effect of each forepaw’s opposable thumb.

The first official scientific description of D’Albertis’ ringtail possum beats out the taxonomic identifications of fellow Australasian ringtail possums by more than two decades. It comes from the industrious pen of Koldenbüttel-born German naturalist Wilhelm Karl Hartwich (aka Hartwig) Peters (April 22, 1815 – April 20, 1883), as:

• Angola, Mozambique and Zambesi River explorer, 1842 – 1848;
• Berlin Zoological Museum curator, 1858-;
• Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences foreign member-elect, 1858-.

The description dates from 1874. It draws upon the D’Albertis specimens deposited at Genoa's Castello D’Albertis (“D’Albertis Castle”), residence of the specimen-owner’s cousin and co-traveler Enrico Alberto d’Albertis (March 23, 1846 – March 3, 1932) and site of the Museo delle Culture del Mondo (“Museum of World Cultures”) since 2004.

Three D’Albertis’ ringtail subspecies articulate individualized geographical ranges and physical features which obstruct interbreeding and fertile offspring. Scientists associate the Peters description with the nominate (first-described) Pseudochirops albertisii albertisii, in northwest New Guinea at the Vogelkop (“Bird’s Head”) Peninsula -- especially in the Arfak and Tamrau Mountains -- and possibly the Weyland Mountains. They also consider as subspecies:

• P.a. insularis;
• P.a. schultzei.

The second-mentioned subspecies, described by Ziltendorf-born German zoologist Georg Hermann Wilhelm Stein (1897 – 1976) in 1933, flourishes around:

• Cenderawasih Bay;
• Yapen Island’s Mount Eiori.

The third-mentioned subspecies, described by Brandenburg-an-der-Havel-born German zoologist Paul Matschie (August 11, 1861 – March 7, 1926) in 1915, thrives in the North Coastal Range, from the Cyclops to the Torricelli Mountains.

Vast expanses of choppy waters and lowland forests distance the three subspecies from one another. But all D'Albertis' ringtails dwell in the same type of habitat within their separate locales. For example, they favor elevations of 3,280.84 – 6,233.59 feet (1,000 – 1,900 meters) above sea level. They inhabit ground-fallen logs and tree forks – never hollows – in such lower and upper montane wooded configurations as:

• Brushlands;

• Dry, rain and sclerophyll (“hard leaf”) forests;

• Woodlands.

They like the primary forest's mature old trees. But they make changes necessary to:

• Adapting to the Arfak Mountains' and Vogelkop Peninsula's secondary forests;
• Overlapping with such habitat-displaced possums as coppery (Pseudochirops cupreus) and reclusive (Pseudochirops coronatus) ringtails. 

D'Albertis' ringtail possums answer to:

• Mandorman in Indonesian New Guinea;

• Yeyu in Papua New Guinea.

Either way, their silver-green aura from sylvan sunlight filtering over mottled coloring blends with mountain browns, greens and greys. D'Albertis' ringtails can be confused with golden plush-coated ringtails (Pseudochirops corinnae). But Albertis' ringtails' black-brown-grey, densely-, woolly-furred uppercoat communicates silver-greenness, not green-goldness. Black-brown-white undersides convey sylvan plays of light and shadow. Four limbs and the prehensile (“grasping”), ring-curled tail darken terminally to contrast respectively with:

• Each digit's light-colored claws and each forepaw's and rearpaw's respectively opposable thumb and big toe;

• The furry base's hairlessly slip-resistant underside and tapering terminal hairlessness.

Thin eyerings encircle big, rounded eyes. Short ears have black-haired, long tufts.

Mothers-to-be deliver 1 newborn per litter. Newborns divide pre-adulthood between maternal pouches, backs and nests. They follow parents in: 

• Fitful sleeping, with one eye regularly opened;

• Folivorousness (“leaf-eating”) including bark, flowers, fruits and sap;

• Part-arboreal, part-terrestrial nocturnalism.

They greet physical and sexual maturity with:

• Dentition: 6 incisors, 2 canines, 6 premolars, and 8 molars and of 4 incisors, 6 premolars, and 8 molars per respectively upper and lower jaws;

• Head-and-body lengths: 12.6 inches (32.0 centimeters);

• Tail lengths: 6.7 inches (17.02 centimeters);

• Weights under 3 pounds (1.36 kilograms).

Like their parents, newly-emancipated adults lead lives:

• Elusive to raptors and reptiles;

• Enigmatic to researchers;

• Equanimous to competitors;

• Explicable to locals. 

Scientists consider D’Albertis’ ringtail possums among the world’s wildlife besieged and near-threatened by:

• Globally-warmed climate change;
• Habitat disjunctivity, fragmentation and loss;
• Ritual hunting.

Global warming dismays higher altitude-adapted wildlife since there is no escape when:

• Lands get reconfigured;
• Temperatures range outside norms;
• Weather patterns turn extreme.

Agro-industrialism, deforestation, and suburbanization divide wildscapes into clearings and corridors at whose occupancy wildlife balks. Indigenous peoples hold onto flesh-and-fur hunts for:

• Celebratory accoutrements and attire;
• Ceremonial dinners.

The sustainability of wildlife in general and D’Albertis’ ringtail possums in particular needs not only the love of locals and visitors for eastern and western New Guinea’s eco-beauty but also:

• Expanded protected areas;
• Funded research into the Foja Mountains and Mamberamo River regions.  

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

L.M. d'Albertis, New Guinea: What I Did and What I Saw (1881), Vol. I, frontispiece: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Luigi_Maria_D'Albertis.jpg

undated portrait of Wilhelm Peters: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Peters_Wilhelm_1815-1883.png

library in Castello d'Albertis, owned by Luigi's cousin, fellow explorer Enrico d'Albertis, Genoa, northwestern Italy: Twice25 and Rinina25, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DSCF8226.JPG

Distribution data from IUCN Red List: Chermundy/ IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, species assessors and the authors of the spatial data, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:D'Albertis'_Ringtail_Possum_area.png

Bird's Head (Indonesian: Kepala Burung, Dutch: Vogelkop) Peninsula, northwestern New Guinea: NASA World Wind, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Birds_Head_Peninsula_NASA.jpg

Annali del Museo civico di storia naturale di Genova, Ser. 2, Vol. XVIII (XXXVIII), Tav. II: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/annalidelmuseoci38muse/page/n742/mode/1up; Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7785955

Wilhelm Peters and Giacomo Doria, Enumerazione dei mammiferi (1881), Tav. IX, fig. 2: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14843594

Wilhelm Peters and Giacomo Doria, Enumerazione dei mammiferi (1881), Tav. VIII, fig. 2: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/29845162

Wilhelm Peters and Giacomo Doria, Enumerazione dei mammiferi (1881), Tav. XI: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14843598

Mamberamo River entering the Pacific Ocean: viewed from space: NASA World Wind, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mamberamo_River_NASA.jpg

Blick auf Jayapura mit Bucht ("view of Jayapura with bay"): Tobias Ohl, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jayapura_mit_Bucht.JPG

Lake Sentani, Papua province, northwestern New Guinea: Kiko Turteliny, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/24095010@N04/2287188721/

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