It was first described by Oldfield Thomas in 1888, after he identified that a museum specimen labelled as an eastern pygmy possum in fact represented a species then unknown to science.

[3] The snout is short with long whiskers, and the eyes are directed forwards and surrounded by slightly darker fur, although without the conspicuous black rings seen on other pygmy possums.

Fossils have been found as far afield as eastern Victoria and New South Wales, suggesting that the species was once much more widespread than it is today.

But in late 2020, conservation group Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife recorded live pygmy possums in a fauna survey of unburnt forest.

It lives primarily in shrubland or forest undergrowth, and, although a good climber, rarely ventures into the higher branches of trees, presumably because this would make it more vulnerable to avian predators.

[3] Tasmanian pygmy possums are omnivorous, feeding on insects, spiders, small lizards, nectar, and pollen, the latter two primarily coming from Banksia and eucalypts.