Photo: Denise McGregor
Photo: Denise McGregor - Australian scientists have discovered one of Australia's best-loved animals is actually three different species. A team of researchers from James Cook University (JCU), The Australian National University (ANU), the University of Canberra and CSIRO analysed the genetic make-up of the greater glider - a possum-sized marsupial that can glide up to 100 metres. JCU's PhD candidate Denise McGregor and Professor Andrew Krockenberger were part of a team that confirmed a long-held theory that the greater glider is actually multiple species. As a part of her PhD project to understand why greater gliders varied so much across their range, Ms McGregor discovered that the genetic differences between the populations she was looking at were profound. "There has been speculation for a while that there was more than one species of greater glider, but now we have proof from the DNA. It changes the whole way we think about them," she said. "Australia's biodiversity just got a lot richer. It's not every day that new mammals are confirmed, let alone two new mammals," Professor Krockenberger said.
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