The striped possum was first described by John Edward Gray in 1858 from a specimen sent from the Aru Islands (in Indonesia) to the British Museum by Alfred Russel Wallace.

[9] Its main diet consists of wood-boring insect larvae, which are extracted from rotten branches probing with its elongated fourth finger and its powerful incisor teeth which are used to rip open tree bark to expose insects.

[5] The fourth finger has an unusual hooked nail which it uses to extract insects out of cracks.

[10] The striped possum also eats leaves, fruits, and small vertebrates.

[11] The female striped possum has two teats in her pouch and can give birth to up to two young.