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The ringtail possum moves next to the koala with a tip of its skull

Saturday, May 24, 2025 9:22

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Most of the time
the skull of vertebrates is oriented with a horizontal tooth row… like a crocodile.

Figure 1. Koala invivo with its skull applied to show the tilt. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Koala invivo with its skull applied to show the tilt.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/koala.side_.view588.gif?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/koala.side_.view588.gif?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-92983″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/koala.side_.view588.gif” alt=”Figure 1. Koala invivo with its skull applied to show the tilt.” width=”584″ height=”370″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/koala.side_.view588.gif?w=584&h=370 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/koala.side_.view588.gif?w=150&h=95 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/koala.side_.view588.gif?w=300&h=190 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/koala.side_.view588.gif 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 1. Koala invivo with its skull applied to show the tilt.

A few times
the skull of vertebrates is tipped down (Fig 1)… like a wolf or koala (Phascolarctos), and that’s how it needs to be scored in your own large reptile tree (LRT, 2338 taxa). I learned that lesson the hard way: by slogging through until it dawned on me to do this.

Figure 2. Pseudocheirus, the ringtail possum, now with a correctly tilted skull. This tilt affects scores that now link it to Phascolarctos, the koala. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 2. Pseudocheirus, the ringtail possum, now with a correctly tilted skull. This tilt affects scores that now link it to Phascolarctos, the koala.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus_skull_invivo588.jpg?w=106″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus_skull_invivo588.jpg?w=363″ class=”size-full wp-image-92985″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus_skull_invivo588.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Pseudocheirus, the ringtail possum, now with a correctly tilted skull. This tilt affects scores that now link it to Phascolarctos, the koala.” width=”584″ height=”1646″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus_skull_invivo588.jpg?w=584&h=1646 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus_skull_invivo588.jpg?w=53&h=150 53w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus_skull_invivo588.jpg?w=106&h=300 106w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus_skull_invivo588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 2. Pseudocheirus, the ringtail possum, now with a correctly tilted skull. This tilt affects scores that now link it to Phascolarctos, the koala. Below is a distinctly different Pseudocheirus, apparently a juvenile with larger teeth, larger eyes and lacking a diastema (= toothless area in the maxilla).

With this new nesting, let’s take another look
at that odd koala manus with two thumbs (Fig 3) as it relates to its new relative, the ringtail possum, Pseudocheirus (Fig 2).

Figure 3. The right manus, dorsal view, of Apatemys, Phascolarctos (the koala) and Pseudocheirus (the ringtail possum) as is and with fingers rotated to match the koala. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 3. The right manus, dorsal view, of Apatemys, Phascolarctos (the koala) and Pseudocheirus (the ringtail possum) as is and with fingers rotated to match the koala.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/phascolarctos_manus_compared588.gif?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/phascolarctos_manus_compared588.gif?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-92987″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/phascolarctos_manus_compared588.gif” alt=”Figure 3. The right manus, dorsal view, of Apatemys, Phascolarctos (the koala) and Pseudocheirus (the ringtail possum) as is and with fingers rotated to match the koala. ” width=”584″ height=”306″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/phascolarctos_manus_compared588.gif?w=584&h=306 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/phascolarctos_manus_compared588.gif?w=150&h=79 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/phascolarctos_manus_compared588.gif?w=300&h=157 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/phascolarctos_manus_compared588.gif 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 3. The right manus, dorsal view, of Apatemys, Phascolarctos (the koala) and Pseudocheirus (the ringtail possum) as is and with fingers rotated to match the koala, with matching parallel interphalangeal lines (PILs).

As it turns out,
ringtail possums DO have two thumbs (Fig 4).

Figure 4. Right manus palmar view of Pseudocheirus invivo. Note the two thumbs. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 4. Right manus palmar view of Pseudocheirus invivo. Note the two thumbs.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus.thumbs588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus.thumbs588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-92992″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus.thumbs588.jpg” alt=”Figure 4. Right manus palmar view of Pseudocheirus invivo. Note the two thumbs.” width=”584″ height=”503″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus.thumbs588.jpg?w=584&h=503 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus.thumbs588.jpg?w=150&h=129 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus.thumbs588.jpg?w=300&h=258 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pseudocheirus.thumbs588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 4. Right manus palmar view of Pseudocheirus invivo. Note the two thumbs from Scanlon and Sprague 1984.

Pseudocheirus peregrinus
(Ogilby 1837, Scanlon and Sprague 1984) is the extant ringtail possum. It has grasping feet and hands (with two thumbs) and a prehensile tail, convergent with arboreal didelphids. Cat-sized Pseudocheirus feeds on leaves. Phascolarctos, the koala, is a relative.

Figure 1. The odd skull of tapir-mimic Palorchestes in 3 views. Colors added. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. The odd skull of tapir-mimic Palorchestes in 3 views. Colors added.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/palorchestes_skull588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/palorchestes_skull588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-35789″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/palorchestes_skull588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. The odd skull of tapir-mimic Palorchestes in 3 views. Colors added.” width=”584″ height=”482″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/palorchestes_skull588.jpg?w=584&h=482 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/palorchestes_skull588.jpg?w=150&h=124 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/palorchestes_skull588.jpg?w=300&h=247 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/palorchestes_skull588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 5. The odd skull of tapir-mimic Palorchestes in 3 views. Colors added.

Traditionally
the koala “is the sole member of its family” – and for good reason. Nothing else looks quite like it.

In the LRT
the koala has a traditionally overlooked ancestor: Pseudocheirus. Koala descendants include wombats on one branch and three odd terrestrial marsupials on the other branch: Pyrotherium, Propalorchestes and Palorchestes (Fig 5).

References
de Blainville H 1816. Prodrome d’une nouvelle distribution systématique du règne animal. Bulletin de la Société Philomáthique, Paris (in French). 8: 113–124.
Ogilby W 1837. Observations on the opposable power of the thumb in certain mammals, considered as a zoological character; and on the natural affinities which subsist between the Bimana, Quadrumana, and Pedimana. The Magazine of Natural History (Charlesworth) 1: 449-459.
Scanlon JD and Sprague T 1984. A study of the riingtail possum Pseudocheirus peregrinus. University of Sydney (Zoology 3rd Year Assignment), 1984. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4480.4647

wiki/Phascolarctos
/wiki/Koala
wiki/Pseudocheirus

Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2025/05/24/the-ringtail-possum-moves-next-to-the-koala-with-a-tip-of-its-skull/

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