The Daintree rainforest is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia, 1,757 km (1,092 mi) northwest of Brisbane and 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Cairns. It was founded in 1981 and is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland. In 1988 it became a World Heritage Site. The park consists of two sections, with a settled agricultural area between them which includes the towns of Mossman and Daintree Village.
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 rhinoceros-sized Diprotodon, and Thylacoleo, the so-called "marsupial lion".
Tree-kangaroos are marsupials of the genus Dendrolagus, adapted for arboreal locomotion. They inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and far northeastern Queensland, along with some of the islands in the region. Most tree-kangaroos are considered threatened due to hunting and habitat destruction. They are the only true arboreal macropods.
Kangaroo rats, small mostly nocturnal rodents of genus Dipodomys, are native to arid areas of western North America. The common name derives from their bipedal form. They hop in a manner similar to the much larger kangaroo, but developed this mode of locomotion independently, like several other clades of rodents.
Potoroidae is a family of marsupials, small Australian animals known as bettongs, potoroos, and rat-kangaroos. All are rabbit-sized, brown, jumping marsupials and resemble a large rodent or a very small wallaby.
The bush rat is a small Australian nocturnal animal. It is an omnivore and one of the most common indigenous species of rat on the continent, found in many heathland areas of Victoria and New South Wales.
The desert rat-kangaroo, also called the buff-nosed rat-kangaroo, plains rat-kangaroo or oolacunta, is an extinct small hopping marsupial endemic to desert regions of Central Australia. It was discovered in the early 1840s and described by John Gould in London in 1843, on the basis of three specimens sent to him by George Grey, the governor of South Australia at the time.
The musky rat-kangaroo is a small marsupial found only in the rainforests of northeast Australia. First described in the later nineteenth century, the only other species are known from fossil specimens. They are similar in appearance to potoroos and bettongs, but are not as closely related. Their omnivorous diet is known to include materials such as fruit and fungi, as well as small animals such as insects and other invertebrates. The local Aboriginal name for the species is durrgim yuri.
The Hypsiprymnodontidae are a family of macropods, one of two families containing animals commonly referred to as rat-kangaroos. The single known extant genus and species in this family, the musky rat-kangaroo, Hypsiprymnodon moschatus, occurs in northern Australia. During the Pleistocene, this family included the megafauna genus Propleopus.
Palorchestes is an extinct genus of terrestrial, herbivorous marsupials of the family Palorchestidae. The genus was endemic to Australia, living from the Miocene through to the Pleistocene epochs.
Potoroo is a common name for species of Potorous, a genus of smaller marsupials. They are allied to the Macropodiformes, the suborder of kangaroo, wallaby, and other rat-kangaroo genera. All three extant species are threatened by ecological changes since the colonisation of Australia, especially the long-footed Potorous longipes (Endangered) and P. gilbertii. The broad-faced P. platyops disappeared after its first description in the nineteenth century. The main threats are predation by introduced species and habitat loss.
Ekaltadeta is an extinct genus of marsupials related to the modern musky rat-kangaroos. Ekaltadelta was present in what is today the Riversleigh formations in Northern Queensland from the Late Oligocene to the Miocene.
The Macropodiformes, also known as macropods, are one of the three suborders of the large marsupial order Diprotodontia. Kangaroos, wallabies and allies, bettongs, potoroos and rat kangaroos are all members of this suborder.
Bettong, species of the genus Bettongia, are potoroine marsupials once common in Australia. They are important ecological engineers displaced during the colonisation of the continent, and vulnerable to the threatening factors such as altered fire regimes, land clearing, pastoralism and the introduced predatory species such as the fox and cat.
The pale field rat,, is a small mammal endemic to Australia. They are a nocturnal and herbivorous rodent who reside throughout the day in shallow burrows made in loose sand. Once widespread, the range has become greatly reduced and it is restricted to the grasslands, sedges, and cane-fields at the north and east of the continent. The fur is an attractive yellow-brown colour, with grey or cream at the underside, and this medium-sized rat has a tail shorter than body.
Propleopus is an extinct genus of marsupials. Three species are known: P. chillagoensis from the Plio-Pleistocene, and P. oscillans and P. wellingtonensis from the Pleistocene. In contrast to most other kangaroos, and similar to its small extant relative, the musky rat-kangaroo, it was probably omnivorous.
The Macropodidae are an extant family of marsupial with the distinction of the ability to move bipedally on the two hind legs sometimes via saltation, as well as quadrupedally. They are herbivores, but some fossil species like Ekaltadeta are hypothesised to have been carnivores. This can not be proven as it can not be compared with an extant species. The taxonomic affiliations with each other and other groups of marsupials is still in flux and under debate.
Riversleigh fauna is the collective term for any species of animal identified in fossil sites located in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area.
Ekaltadeta jamiemulvaneyi is a species of potoroid marsupial that existed in later periods of Miocene Australia.
