Editing Honey possum (section)

== Taxonomy ==
The first description of the [[diprotodont]] species was published by [[Paul Gervais]] and [[Jules Verreaux]] on 3 March 1842, referring to a specimen collected by Verreaux. The [[lectotype]] nominated for this species, held in the collection at [[National Museum of Natural History, France]], was collected the [[Swan River Colony]].<ref name="msw3" /><ref name="AFD" /> A description of a second species ''Tarsipes spenserae'',<ref name="Gray1842" /> published five days later by [[John Edward Gray]] and current until the 1970s, was thought to have been published earlier by [[T. S. Palmer]] in 1904<ref name="Palmer1904" /> and displaced the usage of ''T.&nbsp;rostratus''. A review by Mahoney in 1984 again reduced ''T. spenserae'' to a synonym for the species, as was the emendation to its spelling as ''spencerae'' cited by [[W. D. L. Ride|William Ride]] (1970) and others.<ref name="Ride1970" /><ref name="Troughton1922" /><ref name="BradshawWeb" />
Gray's specimen was provided by [[George Grey]] to the [[British Museum of Natural History]], the skin of a male also collected at King George Sound.<ref name="AFD" />
The author was aware of the description prepared by Gervais, who after examining his specimen suggested it represented a second species.

The population is the only known species in the genus '''''Tarsipes''''', and assigned to a monotypic [[diprotodont]] family '''Tarsipedidae'''.<ref name="Jackson2015" /> The name of the genus means "tarsier-foot", given for a resemblance to [[tarsier]]'s simian-like feet and toes noted by the earliest descriptions.<ref name="Renfree1983" />

The poorly resolved phylogeny of ancestral marsupial relationships has presented this taxon, unique in many characteristics, in an arrangement of other higher classifications, including the separation as a superfamily '''Tarsipedoidea''', later abandoned in favour grouping of South American and Australian marsupials as a monophyletic clade that ignores the modern geographic remoteness of these continent's fauna.<ref name="Kirsch197" />

The relationships of the monotypic family within the [[Diprotodontia]] order as a [[petauroid]] alliance may be summarised as,
*Superfamily [[Petauroidea]]
** Family [[Pseudocheiridae]] ringtail possums
** Family [[Petauridae]] gliders and trioks
** Family Tarsipedidae
*** Genus ''Tarsipes''
**** ''Tarsipes rostratus''
** Family [[Acrobatidae]] gliders

The closest relationship to other taxa was theorised to be ''[[Dromiciops gliroides]]'', another smaller marsupial that occurs in South America and is known as the extant member of a genus that is represented in the [[Gondwana]]n fossil record. This was supported by phylogenetic analysis,<ref name="BradshawWeb" /> but this is no longer believed to be true.<ref name=Nilsson2010>{{Cite journal| last1 = Nilsson| first1 = M. A.| last2 = Churakov
| first2 = G.| last3 = Sommer| first3 = M.| last4 = Van Tran| first4 = N.| last5 = Zemann| first5 = A.| last6 = Brosius| first6 = J.| last7 = Schmitz| first7 = J.| editor-last = Penny| editor-first = D.| title = Tracking Marsupial Evolution Using Archaic Genomic Retroposon Insertions| journal= [[PLOS Biology]]| volume = 8| issue = 7| pages = e1000436| publisher = [[Public Library of Science]]| year = 2010| pmid = 20668664| pmc = 2910653| doi          = 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000436| doi-access = free}}</ref>

At Grey's suggestion, the maiden name of his wife [[Eliza Lucy Spencer]] was assigned to the epithet. Eliza or Elizabeth was the daughter of the government resident at King George Sound, [[Richard Spencer (Royal Navy officer)|Richard Spencer]], prompting the unacceptable correction by Ride in 1970.

The common names include those cited or coined by Gilbert, Gould and [[Ellis Troughton]], honey and long-snouted phalanger, tait and noolbenger in the local languages, or the descriptive brown barred mouse. An ethnographic survey of [[Noongar language|Noongar]] words recorded for the species found three names were in use, and proposed that these be regularised for spelling and pronunciation as ''ngoolboongoor'' (ngool'bong'oor), ''djebin'' (dje'bin) and ''dat''.<ref name="Abbott2001" /> The term honey mouse was recorded by Troughton in 1922 as commonly used in the districts around King George Sound.<ref name="Troughton1922" />