The "'ground cuscus "'( " Phalanger gymnotis " ) is a marsupial from the order Diprotodontia and belongs within the family Phalangeridae, a diverse family consisting of the other cuscus species and the brushtail possums ( " Trichosurus " spp . ) and the scaly-tailed possum ( " Wyulda squamicaudata " ).
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Metatherians are one of three main classes of extant mammals : monotremes ( egg laying mammals like the platypus and the echidna ), metatheria ( or marsupials, which includes the three American orders ( Didelphimorphia, Paucituberculata and Microbiotheria ) and the four Australasian orders ( Notoryctemorphia, Dasyuromorphia, Peramelemorphia and Diprotodontia ) ), and the eutherians ( or placental mammals ) consisting of twenty-one orders, divided into four superorders.
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This family of the order Diprotodontia, which can be found in the east coast and inland of Australia and in some islands of New Guinea, is characterized by their very small size, which has side effects : because their mass-to-surface-area ratio is so small, heat escapes quicker from their bodies than it would in larger animals ( the larger the mass-to-surface-area ratio, the harder it is to get rid of heat ).
