glider

glider, any of about six small phalangers—marsupial mammals of Australasia—that volplane from tree to tree like flying squirrels. Most have well-developed flaps of skin along the flanks; these become sails when the limbs are extended. An eastern Australian species, which feeds on nectar and insects, is the pygmy glider, or feathertail (Acrobates pygmaeus), only 15 cm (6 inches) in total length; it has narrow side flaps, and its 8-centimetre-long tail is stiffly haired laterally—a “feather” that helps it to navigate. The 25-centimetre-long pen-tailed phalanger (Distoechurus pennatus) of New Guinea lacks the flaps; its tail is furry at the base but otherwise featherlike.

The three species of lesser, or sugar, gliders (Petaurus) are 25 to 80 cm long. An example is the short-headed glider (P. breviceps) found from New Guinea to Tasmania; it is blue-gray with a dark centre stripe and has a long bushy tail. These animals can glide 55 m (180 feet). The greater glider (Schoinobates volans) of eastern Australia may be 105 cm long; it often glides 100 m or more. It has adapted to eating leaves and is sometimes classified with ring-tailed possums and the koala in a separate family, Phascolarctidae.