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The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the wombats, which are members of the family Vombatidae. The koala is found in coastal areas of the mainland's eastern and southern regions, inhabiting Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is easily recognisable by its stout, tailless body and large head with round, fluffy ears and large, spoon-shaped nose. The koala has a body length of 60–85 cm (24–33 in) and weighs 4–15 kg (9–33 lb). Fur colour ranges from silver grey to chocolate brown. Koalas from the northern populations are typically smaller and lighter in colour than their counterparts further south. These populations possibly are separate subspecies, but this is disputed.
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a pouch. Well-known marsupials include kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, opossums, wombats, Tasmanian devils, and the extinct thylacine. Some lesser-known marsupials are the dunnarts, potoroos, and the cuscus.
Phalangeriformes is a suborder of about 70 species of small to medium-sized arboreal marsupials native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi. The species are commonly known as possums, gliders, and cuscus. The common name "possum" for various Phalangeriformes species derives from the creatures' resemblance to the opossums of the Americas. However, although opossums are also marsupials, Australasian possums are more closely related to other Australasian marsupials such as kangaroos.
Diprotodontia is an order of about 155 species of marsupial mammals including the kangaroos, wallabies, possums, koala, wombats, and many others. Extinct diprotodonts include the hippopotamus-sized Diprotodon, and Thylacoleo, the so-called "marsupial lion".
The honey possum or noolbenger, Tarsipes rostratus, is a tiny species of marsupial that feeds on the nectar and pollen of a diverse range of flowering plants. Found in southwest Australia, it is an important pollinator for such plants as Banksia attenuata, Banksia coccinea and Adenanthos cuneatus.
Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae, are highly specialized marsupial mammals, known from two species found at the Australian interior.
The numbat also known as the noombat or walpurti, is an insectivorous marsupial. It is diurnal and its diet consists almost exclusively of termites.
Dasyuromorphia is an order comprising most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the numbat, the Tasmanian devil, and the thylacine. In Australia, the exceptions include the omnivorous bandicoots and the marsupial moles. Numerous South American species of marsupials are also carnivorous, as were some extinct members of the order Diprotodontia, including extinct kangaroos and thylacoleonids, and some members of the partially extinct clade Metatheria and all members of the extinct superorder Sparassodonta.
Microbiotheria is an australidelphian marsupial order that encompasses two families, Microbiotheriidae and Woodburnodontidae, and is represented by only one extant species, the monito del monte, and a number of extinct species known from fossils in South America, Western Antarctica, and northeastern Australia.
The Acrobatidae are a small family of gliding marsupials containing two genera, each with a single species, the feathertail glider from Australia and feather-tailed possum from New Guinea.
The tammar wallaby, also known as the dama wallaby or darma wallaby, is a small macropod native to South and Western Australia. Though its geographical range has been severely reduced since European colonization, the tammar wallaby remains common within its reduced range and is listed as "Least Concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It has been introduced to New Zealand and reintroduced to some areas of Australia where it had been previously eradicated. Skull differences distinguish tammar wallabies from Western Australia, Kangaroo Island, and mainland South Australia, making them distinct population groups or possibly different subspecies.
The Vombatiformes are one of the three suborders of the large marsupial order Diprotodontia. Seven of the nine known families within this suborder are extinct; only the families Phascolarctidae, with the koala, and Vombatidae, with three extant species of wombat, survive.
The genus Petaurus contains flying phalangers or wrist-winged gliders, a group of arboreal marsupials. There are six species, sugar glider, squirrel glider, mahogany glider, northern glider, yellow-bellied glider and Biak glider, and are native to Australia or New Guinea. The greater glider has been shown to be three different species.
The subfamily Dasyurinae includes several genera of small carnivorous marsupials native to Australia: quolls, kowari, mulgara, kaluta, dibblers, phascogales, pseudantechinuses, and the Tasmanian devil. The subfamily is defined largely on biochemical criteria.
Thylacoleo is an extinct genus of carnivorous marsupials that lived in Australia from the late Pliocene to the late Pleistocene. Some of these "marsupial lions" were the largest mammalian predators in Australia of that time, with Thylacoleo carnifex approaching the weight of a small lion. The estimated average weight for the species ranges from 101 to 130 kg.
The northern quoll, also known as the northern native cat, the North Australian native cat, the satanellus or njanmak in the Indigenous Mayali language, djabo in Kunwinjku, and wijingarri in Wunambal, is a carnivorous marsupial native to Australia.
The northern brown bandicoot, a marsupial species, is a bandicoot found only on the northern and eastern coasts of Australia and nearby islands, mainly Papua New Guinea. It is not, however, found far inland.
Ningaui is a genus of small species of the marsupial dasyurid family. Along with the planigales, they are among the smallest marsupials.
Team BikeExchange is a women's professional cycling team based in Australia which competes in the UCI Women's World Tour and other elite women's events throughout the world.
Amanda Spratt is an Australian road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Team BikeExchange.
References
- ↑ Spratt D. (1979). "A taxonomic revision of the lungworms (Nematoda: Metastrongyloidea) from Australian marsupials". Australian Journal of Zoology, Supplementary Series. 27 (67): 1–45. doi:10.1071/AJZS067.