bettong

Bettongs, species of the genus ''Bettongia'', are potoroine marsupials once common in Australia. They are important ecosystem engineers displaced during the colonisation of the continent, and are vulnerable to threatening factors such as altered fire regimes, land clearing, pastoralism and introduced predatory species such as the fox and cat.

Conservation status

All species of the genus have been severely affected by ecological changes since the European settlement of Australia. Those that have not become extinct became largely confined to islands and protected reserves and are dependent on re-population programs. The diversity of the genus was poorly understood before their extirpation from the mainland, and new taxa have been identified in specimens newly discovered and already held in museum collections. In 2021 August, 40 Bettongs were released in different parts of South Australia; they were raised in captivity to increase their numbers.

Taxonomy

Four extant species are recognised in the work '' Mammal Species of the World'' (2005):

* ''Bettongia gaimardi'', Eastern bettong, also known as the Tasmanian bettong
* ''Bettongia lesueur'' Boodie
* ''Bettongia penicillata'' Woylie
* ''Bettongia tropica'' Wakefield, 1967. Northern bettong
In addition, at least three extinct species are known:

* '' Bettongia moyesi'', Middle Miocene bettong from RiversleighFlannery, T.F. and Archer, M, 1987. Bettongia moyesi, a new and plesiomorphic kangaroo (Marsupialia: Potoridae) from Miocene sediments of northwestern Queensland. ‘Possums and Opossums: Studies in Evolution’, Pp.759–67. ed. M. Archer. Surrey Beatty & Sons and the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Sydne
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* ''Bettongia pusilla'', Nullarbor dwarf bettong, known only from subfossil remains, probably became extinct after colonisation
*''Bettongia anhydra'', described in 2015 from a specimen collected in 1933 near Lake Mackay, Northern Territory.
The phylogeny of the genus has seen a grouping of 'brush-tailed' taxa allied within the genus ''Bettongia'', and this includes the extant species ''Bettongia gaimardi'', '' B. tropica'' and '' B. penicillata''.

A conservative arrangement of modern and fossil taxa of ''Bettongia'' may be summarised as

* family Potoroidae:

:* subfamily †Bulungamayinae
:* subfamily †Palaeopotoroinae
:* subfamily Potoroinae
::* genus ''Aepyprymnus''
::* genus ''Bettongia''
:::* species †''Bettongia anhydra''
:::* species ''Bettongia gaimardi''
:::* species ''Bettongia lesueur''
:::* species †'' Bettongia moyesi''
:::* species '' Bettongia penicillata''
:::* species †'' Bettongia pusilla''
:::* species ''Bettongia tropica''
::* genus †'' Milliyowi''
::* genus †''Caloprymnus''
::* genus '' Potorous''
::* genus †'' Purtia''
::* genus †'' Wakiewakie''
::* genus †'' Gumardee''

The species '' Aepyprymnus rufescens'' is referred to as the rufous bettong, despite not being a member of the genus ''Bettongia''.

See also

* Kangaroo rat - a heteromyid rodent of North America

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q945387

Marsupial genera
Marsupials of Australia
Bettongia
Taxa named by John Edward Gray