Phascolarctos

Phascolarctos (from Ancient Greek φάσκωλος (phaskolos), referring to a leathern pouch or bag, and ἄρκτος (arktos), meaning "bear") is a genus of marsupials containing only one extant species, the koala (P. cinereus).[1] The genus was named by French zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1816.[2]

Phascolarctos
A koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) climbing a tree in Otway National Park, Victoria, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Phascolarctidae
Genus: Phascolarctos
Blainville, 1816
Synonyms
  • Lipurus Goldfuss, 1817
  • Morodactylus Goldfuss, 1820
  • Koala Schinz, 1821
  • Draximenus Lay, 1825
  • Liscurus McMurtie, 1834
  • Cundokoala Pledge, 1992

Species
  • P. cinereus[1]
  • †P. maris[1]
  • †P. stirtoni[1]
  • †P. yorkensis (formerly of the genus Cundokoala, now recognised as a junior synonym.)[1]

References
  1. Talent, John A. (2012). Earth and Life. Springer. p. 1047. ISBN 9789048134281.
  2. de Blainville, Henri (1816). "Prodrome d'une nouvelle distribution systématique du règne animal". Bulletin de la Société Philomáthique, Paris (in French). 8: 113–124.


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