CHARLES Darwin University researchers are embracing the 21st century in a bid to solve a 173-year-old mystery surrounding a flying marsupial found in the Top End.
The northern savannah glider – which is currently thought to be a sugar glider – is the only glider known from northern Australia, yet little is known about the species.
As it tries to discover whether the glider is a new species or simply a northern population of the well-known marsupial, the CDU team has set its sights on the original specimen, which was collected in 1842 and is housed in London’s prestigious Natural History Museum.
In order to fund the trip, the researchers – which include Katherine’s Dr Teigan Cremona – have set up a crowdfunding project on Pozible to raise $15,000.
Dr Cremona said using crowdfunding had been identified as a way to get Territorians interested in a project, adding that testing could ultimately prove the northern savannah glider was something unique.
“It’s a way for the public to get involved in the research,” she said.
“This is the most exciting part for us.
“We’ve known that they’re here, but no one’s studied them to find out if they are what we thought they are.”
The researchers have travelled to museums across Australia to collect tissue samples and take morphological measurements from glider specimens, which have been compared to their northern counterpart.
However, Dr Cremona said getting access to the original specimen of the glider in the Natural History Museum would allow the team to determine whether or not the marsupial had been identified incorrectly for almost two centuries.
If the glider does turn out to be a unique species, Dr Cremona explained that the team had already contemplated several new names to differentiate it from the sugar glider.
“We’ve had a bit of thought about it,” she said.
“We’d like to incorporate a traditional name into [its scientific name].
“It does have a name in a few different indigenous languages already.”
To contribute to the crowdfunding fight before December 18, go to pozible.com/unknownglider.