A climbing kangaroo of Papua New Guinea’s rainforests.
Soft reddish-brown fur has paired golden back stripes. It has a long tail and curved claws.
The Goodfellow’s group has been difficult to classify because specimens for comparing relationships among its members have been scarce. Eldridge and colleagues added museum specimens and included a subspecies of Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroo that had not previously been sampled. They compared DNA sequences from three mitochondrial regions.
The analysis placed the subspecies D. g. goodfellowi and D. g. buergersi as close relatives. Their genetic sequences were nevertheless highly divergent, while the two looked very similar. The researchers recommended keeping the current classification, with both treated as subspecies of one species, rather than separating them as species. They said that broader sampling and more detailed analysis are needed.
IUCN Red List · Endangered (EN) · Global (Dendrolagus goodfellowi)
The IUCN global assessment evaluated Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroo as Endangered (EN) in June 2016. Its population trend was recorded as decreasing, with a reduction of at least half estimated over the previous three generations (about 30 years). Hunting and declining habitat quality were identified as major causes.