Media release dated 1 July 2018

Most Victorians are aware of the critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum, but now it turns out there are in fact two different kinds!
In a peer reviewed paper published last month, Australian wildlife expert, The Snakeman Raymond Hoser, formally described and named a second subspecies of Leadbeater’s Possum.
Based on morphological, genetic and distributional evidence, Hoser showed that most Leadbeater’s Possums are in fact of a different subspecies to that originally described by McCoy in 1867.
McCoy’s animals are of a lowland form, now restricted to a small patch of forest at Yellingbo, east of Melbourne. They are critically endangered.
Slightly more common and better known are the Leadbeater’s Possums from the highlands east of Melbourne, not including the Dandenong Ranges, which are also in serious decline and also facing extinction. This is the new subspecies formally named by Raymond Hoser.
That there are two different taxa of Leadbeater’s Possum has been known for some years, but it was not until June this year that the second variety was formally named.
Genetic evidence cited by Hoser showed that the two subspecies have been isolated from one another for thousands of years predating European settlement.
The formal naming of the second subspecies of Leadbeater’s Possum, now known as Gymnobelideus leadbeateri martinekae Hoser, 2018, is a vitally important first step towards the conservation and management of the two subspecies.
It also increases the urgency in terms of steps needed to conserve all Leadbeater’s Possums, as each are genetically distinct and must be managed as separate biological entities.
Each needs to be preserved for future generations in their own right.
Snakeman Raymond Hoser, best known for his wildlife display businesses “Melbourne Reptile Shows” and his famous Reptile Parties as well as his snake catcher business “Snakebusters”, is a globally recognized wildlife expert. He has published nine major books, hundreds of scientific papers and discovered and named hundreds of species of wildlife around the world, including over 400 reptiles, over 100 frogs, over 20 mammals as well as some fish.
Formal discovery and naming of species is a critically important first step in their conservation.
Naming of species is governed by the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, with the first name assigned to a taxon being that which must be used, meaning that no other name can be legally coined or used for the newly identified subspecies.
The subspecies of Leadbeater’s Possum, Gymnobelideus leadbeateri martinekae Hoser, 2018, was named in honour of Maryann Martinek of Victoria, in recognition for her significant contributions to wildlife conservation in Victoria.
Hoser’s paper also identifies the major threats to the newly described subspecies and in summary it appears to be ongoing actions by the Victorian State Government, including habitat destruction, a “Big Victoria" policy, designed to increase human population by millions, which will in turn add general pressure on other native species, including Leadbeater's Possums, as well as a commercially motivated monopoly on holding captive specimens of the species by the government-controlled Zoo business, which also creates laws that are hastening the species decline.
Their so-called captive breeding recovery program has its success measured by not breeding the species, so as to protect their lucrative monopoly on it.

Further inquiries: 0412777211

A hi res image of the newly described subspecies (without writing over it) can be used for media reports (click on lo res image below to get the hi res version), provided it is cited as “Gymnobelideus leadbeateri martinekae Hoser, 2018, photo Raymond Hoser / Snakeman” with a link to http://www.snakebusters.com.au at some point in the article.

Citation:
Hoser, R. T. 2018. A new subspecies of the endangered Leadbeater’s Possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri McCoy, 1867 from the Victorian High Country, with comments about the long-term conservation of the species in view of the recent genocide of the species caused by the Victorian Government, their wildlife and forestry departments and their controlled business enterprises. Australasian Journal of Herpetology 37:3-10 (20 June 2018).

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