Dunnart

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Dunnart
Ant lucp.jpg
White-footed dunnart
( Sminthopsis leucopus )
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Family: Dasyuridae
Subfamily: Sminthopsinae
Tribe: Sminthopsini
Genus: Sminthopsis
Thomas, 1887
Type species
Phascogale crassicaudata
Gould, 1844
Species

23, see text

Dunnart (from Noongar donat [1] ) is a common name for species of the genus Sminthopsis, narrow-footed marsupials the size of a European mouse. They have a largely insectivorous diet.

Contents

Taxonomy

Fat-tailed dunnart in its natural habitat. Fat-tailed Dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata) (14559441713).jpg
Fat-tailed dunnart in its natural habitat.

The genus name Sminthopsis was published by Oldfield Thomas in 1887, the author noting that the name Podabrus that had previously been used to describe the species was preoccupied as a genus of beetles. [2] The type species is Phascogale crassicaudata , published by John Gould in 1844.

There are 19 species, [note 1] all of them in Australia or New Guinea: [3]

Additionally, two species are recognized by the American Society of Mammalogists:

The American Society of Mammalogists also lists S. griseoventer as a synonym of S. fuliginosa, [6] and moved S. longicaudata to the genus Antechinomys . [7]

Description

A male dunnart's Y chromosome is the smallest known mammalian Y chromosome. [8]

Notes

  1. The list is based on the Third edition of Wilson & Reeder's Mammal Species of the World (2005) except where both the Mammal Diversity Database and IUCN agree on the change.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dasyuridae</span> Family of marsupials

The Dasyuridae are a family of marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, including 71 extant species divided into 17 genera. Many are small and mouse-like or shrew-like, giving some of them the name marsupial mice or marsupial shrews, but the group also includes the cat-sized quolls, as well as the Tasmanian devil. They are found in a wide range of habitats, including grassland, underground, forests, and mountains, and some species are arboreal or semiaquatic. The Dasyuridae are often called the 'marsupial carnivores', as most members of the family are insectivores.

<i>Microtus</i> Genus of rodents

Microtus is a genus of voles found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. The genus name refers to the small ears of these animals. They are stout rodents with short ears, legs and tails. They eat green vegetation such as grasses and sedges in summer, and grains, seeds, root and bark at other times. The genus is also called "meadow voles".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Short-furred dasyure</span> Species of marsupial

The short-furred dasyure, also known as the short-haired marsupial mouse, is a member of the order Dasyuromorphia. It was once recognised as the only species in the genus Murexia, but now five species are recognised. It lives in Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

<i>Murexia</i> Genus of marsupials

Murexia is a genus of mouse-sized dasyure, in the marsupial order Dasyuromorphia. They are found in Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sminthopsinae</span> Subfamily of marsupials

The subfamily Sminthopsinae includes several genera of small, carnivorous marsupials native to Australia: kultarrs, ningauis, dunnarts, and planigales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sminthopsini</span> Tribe of marsupials

Smintopsini is a tribe of marsupial in the family Dasyuridae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fat-tailed dunnart</span> Species of mammal

The fat-tailed dunnart is a species of mouse-like marsupial of the Dasyuridae, the family that includes the little red kaluta, quolls, and the Tasmanian devil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slender-tailed dunnart</span> Species of marsupial

The slender-tailed dunnart, also known as the common dunnart in Australia, is a dasyurid marsupial. It has an average body length of 7 to 12 centimeters (2.8–4.7 in) with a tail length of 5.5 to 13 centimetres (2.2–5.1 in). It weighs 25–40.8 grams for males and 16.5–25.4 grams for females.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long-tailed dunnart</span> Species of marsupial

The long-tailed dunnart is an Australian dunnart that, like the little long-tailed dunnart, has a tail longer than its body. It is also one of the larger dunnarts at a length from snout to tail of 260–306 mm of which head to anus is 80–96 mm and tail 180–210 mm long. Hind foot size is 18 mm, ear length of 21 mm and with a weight of 15-20 g.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stripe-faced dunnart</span> Species of marsupial

The striped-faced dunnart is a small, Australian, nocturnal, "marsupial mouse," part of the family Dasyuridae. The species' distribution occurs throughout much of inland central and northern Australia, occupying a range of arid and semi-arid habitats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-tailed dunnart</span> Species of marsupial

The white-tailed dunnart, also known as the ash-grey dunnart, is a dunnart native to Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hairy-footed dunnart</span> Species of marsupial

The hairy-footed dunnart is a dunnart that has silver hairs on the soles of it hind feet accompanied by long hair on the side of its sole. It is an Australian marsupial similar to the Ooldea dunnart, with its upper body yellow-brown and lower body white in colour. Its total length is 14.7–18 cm (5.8–7.1 in); its average body length is 7.2–8.5 cm (2.8–3.3 in) with a tail of 7.5–9.5 cm (3.0–3.7 in). Its ear length is 15 mm (0.59 in). It weighs between 13 and 19 g. Its tail is thin and pinkish-white and can be thickened at the base.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ooldea dunnart</span> Species of marsupial

The Ooldea dunnart, also called Troughton's dunnart after the person who found the species, is an Australian marsupial similar to the hairy-footed dunnart. It is greyish-yellow on its upper body and white on the underside with dark patches on its crown, forehead and in front of the eyes, and a pink thinly furred carrot-shaped tail. Its total length is 11.5–17.3 cm (4.5–6.8 in); its average body length is 5.5–8 cm (2.2–3.1 in) with a tail of 6–9.3 cm (2.4–3.7 in). Its ear length is 14–17 mm (0.55–0.67 in). It weighs between 10 and 18 g.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandhill dunnart</span> Species of marsupial

The sandhill dunnart is a species of carnivorous Australian marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It is known from four scattered semi-arid areas of Australia: near Lake Amadeus in Northern Territory, the central and eastern Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, the southwestern and western edges of the Great Victoria Desert in Western Australia, and at Yellabinna in South Australia.

References

  1. Abbott, Ian (2001). "Aboriginal names of mammal species in south-west Western Australia" (PDF). CALMScience. 3 (4): 450–451.
  2. Divljan, Anja; Ingleby, Sandy; Parnaby, Harry (6 January 2015). "Taxonomic status of Podabrus albocaudatus Krefft, 1872 and declaration of Sminthopsis granulipes Troughton, 1932 (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) as a protected name for the White-tailed Dunnart from Western Australia". Zootaxa. 3904 (2): 283–292. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3904.2.7 . ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   25660785. S2CID   30027103.
  3. "Sminthopsis longicaudata". WA Museum Collections. 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  4. "Sminthopsis froggatti (E. P. Ramsay, 1887)". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists . Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  5. "Sminthopsis stalkeri O. Thomas, 1906". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists . Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  6. "Sminthopsis fuliginosa (J. Gould, 1852)". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists . Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  7. "Antechinomys longicaudatus (W. B. Spencer, 1909)". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists . Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  8. Toder R.; Wakefield M.J.; Graves J.A.M. (2000). "The minimal mammalian Y chromosome - the marsupial Y as a model system". Cytogenet Cell Genet. 91 (1–4): 285–92. doi:10.1159/000056858. PMID   11173870. S2CID   30401023.