Leadbeater's possum: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Leadbeater's possum lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Gymnobelideus leadbeateri
Group	Marsupials
Status	Critically endangered (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	1 country
Continents	Oceania
Class	Mammal
Order	Diprotodontia
Family	Petauridae

Where does the Leadbeater's possum live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Leadbeater's possum in 1 country or territory across Oceania.

Australia

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the Leadbeater's possum endangered?

The Leadbeater's possum’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Critically endangered” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the Leadbeater's possum?

The Leadbeater's possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri) is a mammal in the order Diprotodontia and the family Petauridae, genus Gymnobelideus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Leadbeater's possum

Leadbeater's possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri) is a critically endangered possum largely restricted to small pockets of alpine ash, mountain ash, and snow gum forests in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne. In June 2025 it was reported that an image of a sole possum was recorded on a camera trap in October 2024 near Yarrangobilly Caves, Southern NSW, within the Kosciuszko National Park. It is primitive, relict, and non-gliding, and, as the only species in the petaurid genus Gymnobelideus, represents an ancestral form. Formerly, Leadbeater's possums were moderately common within the very small areas they inhabited; their requirement for year-round food supplies and tree-holes to take refuge in during the day restricts them to mixed-age wet sclerophyll forest with a dense mid-story of Acacia. The species was named in 1867 after John Leadbeater, the then taxidermist at the Museum Victoria. They also go by the common name of fairy possum. On 2 March 1971, the State of Victoria made the Leadbeater's possum its faunal emblem.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Leadbeater's possum (revision 1375124343), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q301042 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).