Southern greater glider
The southern greater glider ("Petauroides volans") is a species of large gliding marsupial native to the forests of southeastern Australia. Taxonomy. This was the first described species of "Petauroides", and long thought to be the only species, with "Petauroides armillatus" and "Petauroides minor" being thought to comprise a distinct subspecies of it, "P. volans minor"; together, they were referred to as the greater glider. However, in 2012 and 2015, several field guides written by Colin Groves and/or Stephen Jackson listed the greater glider as being split into 3 species, which was confirmed by a 2020 analysis, which  found significant genetic and morphological differences between the three species. The American Society of Mammalogists now considers the two subspecies to be distinct from "P. volans". Distribution. Prior to being split, this species was thought to be found throughout eastern Australia, but recent taxonomic revisions and splits indicate it occupies a much smaller range. Although Jackson and Groves listed the species as ranging from Bundaberg (Queensland) south to Victoria, genetic analysis by McGregor "et al". has found this species to not exist near the alleged northern edge of its range, with that species actually being "P. armillatus". It is now  thought to range from Victoria north to New South Wales, but due to insufficient sampling from New South Wales, the exact border between the range of "P. volans" and "P. armillatus" remains unknown. Description. This is the largest species of "Petauroides" and one of the world's largest gliding mammals, growing to the size of a house cat. This species displays the famous polymorphism that greater gliders are well-known for, having a dark morph that is almost black in color with a white underside, and a light morph that is gray and white with a white underside. Threats and  conservation. Of the three greater glider species, this one is thought to be the most threatened and have suffered the sharpest declines. Already, prior to late 2019, significant logging in the forests of Victoria and New South Wales led to the removal of vast swathes of hollow-bearing trees that the species depended on, and caused the species to decline by almost 80% in some areas. This was worsened when a significant proportion of the species' habitat burned in the 2019-20 Australian bushfire season; for example, over half of 96,000 acres of forest in Victoria set aside for glider  protection are thought to have burned in the fires. Logging may have made these fires worse by allowing brushfires to burn hotter, and changing the composition of the landscape to less palatable food trees. Climate change may also threaten the species in some regions; rising nighttime temperatures may cause the cold-adapted gliders to lose their appetite, leading to starvation. Conservation actions required to save the species include reconsidering the species' conservation status and banning logging and land clearance for coal mining. Ecotourism to view the species may be a potential source of conservation income as well. Southern greater glider