The great divide: population comparison using 3D and 2D geometric morphometrics of Petaurus breviceps and Petaurus notatus along Australia’s eastern Great Dividing Range

Meagan Powley; Katarina M Mikac

doi:10.1071/AM24046

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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The great divide: population comparison using 3D and 2D geometric morphometrics of Petaurus breviceps and Petaurus notatus along Australia’s eastern Great Dividing Range

Meagan Powley

^A ^* and Katarina M Mikac ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Environmental Futures, School of Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: mpowley@uow.edu.au

Handling Editor: Ross Goldingay

Australian Mammalogy 47, AM24046 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM24046

Submitted: 26 November 2024 Accepted: 28 June 2025 Published: 18 July 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Mammal Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

The geographic distribution of many Australian terrestrial species is poorly understood and after taxonomic revision, new distributional limits are often unclear. This study examined skull size and shape of Petaurus breviceps (senso stricto) and Petaurus notatus, to clarify species distribution in regions where it remains unresolved. We used two regions of known distributions; east (P. breviceps) and west of the Great Dividing Range (GDR) (P. notatus) in New South Wales and compared these specimens to the untested region within the mid-GDR (previously assumed to be P. breviceps). The skull shape of the mid-region was found to be consistent with the west population P. notatus, rather than the anticipated east populations. The results suggest P. breviceps is restricted to the eastern coastal region. This revised distribution of P. breviceps emphasises the importance of identifying biogeographical barriers to refine species distribution and contribute to future conservation efforts.

Keywords: biogeography, conservation, marsupial, morphology, Petauridae, spatial ecology, 3D, 2D.

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