Taxidermy Striped Possum
Log #5651
Latin: Dactylopsila trivirgata
Description: Victorian specimen of a taxidermy Striped Possum in box style case with naturalistic setting. The striped possum is one of the least known marsupials, and is native to New Guinnea and a few other small nearby Islands.
The Striped Possum's fourth finger is elongated relative to the others (like the third finger of the Aye-aye, another rainforest mammal) and is used to take beetles and caterpillars from tree bark, making it a "mammalian woodpecker". The striped possum eats leaves, fruits, and small vertebrates but it's main diet consists of wood-boring insect larvae which are extracted from rotten branches probing with its elongated fourth finger and its powerful incisor teeth which are used to rip open tree bark to expose insects. It detects the larvae by a rapid drumming along branches with the toes of its forefoot and the fourth finger has an unusual hooked nail which it uses to extract insects out of cracks.