Lake Mackay hare-wallaby [1] | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
Order: | Diprotodontia |
Family: | Macropodidae |
Genus: | Lagorchestes |
Species: | †L. asomatus |
Binomial name | |
†Lagorchestes asomatus Finlayson, 1943 | |
The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby (Lagorchestes asomatus), also known as the central hare-wallaby or kuluwarri, is an extinct species of macropod formerly found in central Australia. Very little is known about it. [3]
The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby belongs to the family Macropodidae, the largest in the order Diprodontia. Along with possums, gliders, potoroos, and kangaroos, the Lake Mackay hare-wallaby belongs to the suborder Phalangerida. The suborder Vombatiformes consist of koalas and wombats. The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby's subfamily, Macropodinae, comprises 61 species from 10 genera. Macropodidae's other suborder, Sthenurinae, may have included about 20 species during the Pleistocene period according to fossil record. [4]
The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby is known only from a single animal collected by explorer/geologist Michael Terry in 1932 between Mount Farewell and the northern end of Lake Mackay in the Northern Territory. [5] Only the skull was kept, and this is the only physical evidence scientists have today for the Lake Mackay hare-wallaby's existence; however, there are records of anecdotal evidence given by Aboriginal Australians. [6]
According to Aboriginal knowledge, the Lake Mackay hare-wallaby was covered in soft, long, grey fur and had especially long fur covering the tops of its feet. It had a short, thick tail and hopped like a kangaroo. The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby was comparable in size to a boodie or rabbit. [6] They were mostly said to only produce one offspring at a time, but a few people reported two. [2]
The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby created shelter using Triodia , known commonly as spinifex. They allegedly sheltered in shallow depressions below clumps of spinifex, created grass-lined nests, and sometimes dug short burrows similar to those of the Rufous hare-wallaby. They were referred to as "stupid" and "deaf" by the Aborigines, because when hunted they would not leave their shelter, therefore making them easy prey. [6]
The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby was said to have eaten grass leaves and seeds and desert quandong fruit. [6]
Important factors in the decline of hare-wallabies were likely predation by foreign cats and foxes introduced to their habitat. [7] The feral cat is suspected to have been one of the main predatory contributors to the decline of the species. In addition to predators, the introduction of rabbits to central Australia also strained the populations of Lake Mackay hare-wallaby by creating competition over resources such as food and shelter.
The droughts that affected Central Australia in the 1900s were responsible for a surge of forest fires which can also be attributed to the decline of the Lagorchestes asomatus. Human industrial efforts also contributed to the extinction of the Lake Mackay hare-wallaby. Large grass tussocks, which were used by the Lake Mackay hare-wallabies for shelter, were removed for Australia's pastoral industry. As a result, the wallabies became easy prey for eagles, foxes, and cats. [8]
The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby was found in the central and western deserts of Australia [2] up until sometime between the 1940s and 1960s. Oral history states that it was present in the Tanami Desert of the Northern Territory of Australia until the late 1940s and in the Gibson Desert until the early 1960s. [6] Within these deserts, the Lake-Mackay hare-wallaby inhabited sand plains and dunes that contained spinifex. [6] The land in these regions is primarily sandy clay soils filled with salt and halophytic grasses and shrubs. These grasses and shrubs are commonly known as spinifex and mulga. The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby would use the leafy shrubs as coverage for their burrows, especially in hot weather. Not only did the plants help with sheltering them, but they were also a primary food source. [2]
The climate within the Australian desert is mostly dry and arid. Despite this fact, the summer months are dominated by rainfall but the reliability of rainfall is often minimal. The Tanami Desert specifically is described as "a warm dry monsoonal climate and is mostly semi-desert." The average rainfall is roughly 479mm and tends to increase from September to February while decreasing to a minimum in July. Maximum temperatures often occur in December while minimums occur around June and July. Due to the lack of water drought is very common. Increased introduction of exotic herbivores has led to vegetation changes in the area as well. [9]
In 2001 there was an effort to reintroduce two species of hare-wallaby, the mala (Lagorchestes hirsutus) and the mernine (Lagostrophus fasciatus). The pressures to their habitats over the past 200 years had caused the two species to become extinct on the mainland. At the time of reintroduction there were only about 250 L. hirsutus in captivity. The project group decided to translocate 34 wallabies into an area, which would give useful information about future reintroductions, in the Shark Bay area of the Peron Peninsula. The wallabies were tracked throughout their exposure in their new habitat, which had the pastoral sheep and cattle removed that would have ruined the studies measurement of habitat selection. The results of the study demonstrated that the variation and flexibility of habitat selections were such that future re-introductions wouldn't have to adhere to very strict areas that have vegetation at a high density. This is positive for future attempts because Australia has experienced a thinning of vegetation due to introduced species [9]
The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion, located in the northeast of Western Australia straddling the Pilbara and southern Kimberley regions and extending east into the Northern Territory. It is the second largest desert in Australia after the Great Victoria Desert and encompasses an area of 284,993 square kilometres (110,036 sq mi). The Gibson Desert lies to the south and the Tanami Desert lies to the east of the Great Sandy Desert.
A wallaby is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and sometimes the same genus, but kangaroos are specifically categorised into the four largest species of the family. The term "wallaby" is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or a wallaroo that has not been designated otherwise.
Macropodidae is a family of marsupials that includes kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons, quokkas, and several other groups. These genera are allied to the suborder Macropodiformes, containing other macropods, and are native to the Australian continent, New Guinea and nearby islands.
The banded hare-wallaby, mernine, or munning is a marsupial currently found on the islands of Bernier and Dorre off western Australia. Reintroduced populations have recently been established on islands and fenced mainland sites, including Faure Island and Wadderin Sanctuary near Narembeen in the central wheatbelt.
The desert bandicoot is an extinct bandicoot of the arid country in the centre of Australia.
The crescent nail-tail wallaby, also known as the worong, was a small species of marsupial that grazed on grasses in the scrub and woodlands of southwestern and central Australia. They were common in Western Australia before they disappeared in the early 20th century and persisted in the central deserts until at least the 1950s. The pelage was soft and silky and an ashen grey colouring overall, highlighted in part with rufous tones. There were light and dark patches of fur across the body, the moon-like crescents inspiring their names, and had attractive stripes on the face. Like the two remaining species of the genus, the northern Onychogalea unguifera and rare O. fraenata, it had a horny spur at the tip of its tail. The species was compared to a hare or rabbit, in its habits, appearance and taste, and weighed around 3.5 kilograms.
The deserts of Australia or the Australian deserts cover about 2,700,000 km2 (1,000,000 sq mi), or 18% of the Australian mainland, but about 35% of the Australian continent receives so little rain, it is practically desert. Collectively known as the Great Australian desert, they are primarily distributed throughout the Western Plateau and interior lowlands of the country, covering areas from South West Queensland, Far West region of New South Wales, Sunraysia in Victoria and Spencer Gulf in South Australia to the Barkly Tableland in Northern Territory and the Kimberley region in Western Australia.
Triodia is a large genus of hummock grass endemic to Australia. The species of this genus are known by the common name spinifex, although they are not a part of the coastal genus Spinifex. Many soft-leaved Triodia species were formerly included in the genus Plectrachne. Triodia is known as tjanpi (grass) in central Australia, and have several traditional uses amongst the Aboriginal Australian peoples of the region.
The Macropodiformes, also known as macropods, are one of the three suborders of the large marsupial order Diprotodontia. They may in fact be nested within one of the suborders, Phalangeriformes. Kangaroos, wallabies and allies, bettongs, potoroos and rat kangaroos are all members of this suborder.
The rufous hare-wallaby, also known as the mala, is a small macropod found in Australia. It was formerly widely distributed across the western half of the continent, but naturally occurring populations are now confined to Bernier Island and Dorre Island Islands off Western Australia.
The spectacled hare-wallaby is a species of macropod found in Australia and New Guinea. In Australia, a small sub-population is found on Barrow Island, while the mainland type is widespread, though in decline, across northern regions of the country.
Lagorchestes is a genus of small, rabbit-like mammals commonly known as hare-wallabies. It includes four species native to Australia and New Guinea, two of which are extinct. Hare-wallabies belong to the macropod family (Macropodidae) which includes kangaroos, wallabies, and other marsupials.
The western brush wallaby, also known as the black-gloved wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in the southwestern coastal region of Western Australia. The wallaby's main threat is predation by the introduced red fox. The IUCN lists the western brush wallaby as Least Concern, as it remains fairly widespread and the population is believed to be stable or increasing, as a result of red fox control programs.
The central rock rat, also known as the central thick-tailed rock-rat, Macdonnell Range rock-rat, and Australian native mouse, is a critically endangered species of rodent in the family Muridae, endemic to Australia.
Macropodinae is a subfamily of marsupials in the family Macropodidae, which includes the kangaroos, wallabies, and related species. The subfamily includes about ten genera and at least 51 species. It includes all living members of the Macropodidae except for the banded hare-wallaby, the only surviving member of the subfamily Lagostrophinae.
The Great Sandy-Tanami desert is a ecoregion of Western Australia extending into the Northern Territory. It is designated as a World Wildlife Fund region.