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Rat-kangaroo
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. Taxonomy The potoroids are smaller relatives of the kangaroos and wallabies, and may be ancestral to that group. In particular, the teeth show a simpler pattern than in the kangaroo family, with longer upper incisors, larger canines, and four cusps on the molars. However, both groups possess a wide diastema between the incisors and the cheek teeth, and the potoroids have a similar dental formula to their larger relatives: In most respects, however, the potoroids are similar to small wallabies. Their hind feet are elongated, and they move by hopping, although the adaptations are not as extreme as they are in true wallabies, and, like rabbits, they often use their fore limbs to move about at slower speeds. The potoroids are, like nearly all diprotodonts, largely he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potoroo
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 and is the only genus in the tribe Potoroini. All three extant species are threatened by ecological changes since the colonisation of Australia, especially the long-footed potoroo '' Potorous longipes'' (endangered) and '' P. gilbertii'' (critically endangered). The broad-faced potoroo '' P. platyops'' disappeared after its first description in the 19th century. The main threats are predation by introduced species (especially foxes) and habitat loss. Potoroos were formerly very common in Australia, and early settlers reported them as being significant pests to their crops. Status Gilbert's potoroo was first described in the West in 1840 by naturalist John Gilbert. It was then thought to have become extinct until being rediscovered in 1994 at the Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve (near Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potoroinae
Potoroidae is a family of marsupials, small Australian animals known as Bettong, bettongs, Potoroo, potoroos, and rat-kangaroos. All are rabbit-sized, brown, jumping marsupials and resemble a large rodent or a very small wallaby. Taxonomy The potoroids are smaller relatives of the kangaroos and wallabies, and may be ancestral to that group. In particular, the teeth show a simpler pattern than in the Macropodidae, kangaroo family, with longer upper incisors, larger canine (tooth), canines, and four cusps on the Molar (tooth), molars. However, both groups possess a wide diastema (dentistry), diastema between the incisors and the cheek teeth, and the potoroids have a similar dental formula to their larger relatives: In most respects, however, the potoroids are similar to small wallabies. Their hind feet are elongated, and they move by hopping, although the adaptations are not as extreme as they are in true wallabies, and, like rabbits, they often use their fore limbs to move abou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaeopotorous
''Palaeopotorous priscus'' is a fossil species of a diprotodont marsupial, known from specimens obtained in central Australia. The animal was similar to the modern species of the family Potoroidae, the potoroos and bettongs. Taxonomy The only known species of its genus, ''Palaeopotorous'', which has been allied to the subfamily Potoroinae or as the type of a subfamily, Palaeopotoroinae, in the potoroid family. Description The dental evidence of the species indicates it was a similar size to a small to medium rat-kangaroos that were common into the twentieth century. Since its first discovery, the species has been suspected of representing an early lineage of the macropods. The finds have been placed to the late Oligocene The Chattian is, in the geologic timescale The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the pro ... per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woylie
The woylie or brush-tailed bettong (''Bettongia penicillata'') is a small, near threatened mammal native to forests and shrubland of Australia. A member of the rat-kangaroo family ( Potoroidae), it moves by hopping and is active at night, digging for fungi to eat. It is also a marsupial and carries its young in a pouch. Once widespread, the woylie mostly died out from habitat loss and introduced predators such as foxes and feral cats. It is currently restricted to two small areas in Western Australia. There were two subspecies: ''B. p. ogilbyi'' in the west, and the now-extinct ''B. p. penicillata'' in the southeast. Taxonomy A species was first described by J. E. Gray in 1837, based on the skin and skull of an adult male obtained by the Zoological Society of London, and placed with the British Museum of Natural History. The origin of the holotype has not been determined, but it is presumed to be New South Wales. The two subspecies recognised are: * '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. The Australian government estimates that 42.8 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2019, down from 53.2 million in 2013. As with the terms " wallaroo" and "wallaby", "kangaroo" refers to a paraphyletic grouping of species. All three terms refer to members of the same taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished according to size. The largest species in the family are called "kangaroos" and the smallest are generally called "wallabies". The term "wallaroos" refers to species of an intermediate size. There are also the tree-kangaroos, another type of macropod which inhabit the upper branches ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus parts of North Africa. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List. Its range has increased alongside human expansion, having been Foxes in Australia, introduced to Australia, where it is considered harmful to native small and medium-sized rodents and marsupials. Due to its impact on native species, it is included on the list of the "List of the world's 100 worst invasive species, world's 100 worst invasive species". The red fox originated in Eurasia during the Middle Pleistocene at least 400,000 years ago and later colonised North America sometime prior to 130,000 years ago. Among the true foxes, the red fox represents a more progressive form in the direction of Carnivore, carnivory. Apart from its large size, the red fox is distin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diprotodontia
Diprotodontia (, from Greek language, Greek "two forward teeth") is the largest extant order (biology), order of marsupials, with about 155 species, including the kangaroos, Wallaby, wallabies, Phalangeriformes, possums, koala, wombats, and many others. Extinct diprotodonts include the hippopotamus-sized ''Diprotodon'', and ''Thylacoleo'', the so-called "marsupial lion". Characteristics Living diprotodonts are almost all herbivores, as were most of those that are now extinct. A few insectivore, insectivorous and omnivore, omnivorous diprotodonts are known, and the Potoroidae are almost unique among vertebrates in being largely Fungivore, fungivorous, but these seem to have arisen as relatively recent adaptations from the mainstream herbivorous lifestyle. The extinct Thylacoleonidae, thylacoleonids ("marsupial lions") are the only known group to have exhibited Carnivore, carnivory on a large scale. Diprotodonts are restricted to Australasia. The earliest known fossils date to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long-footed Potoroo
The long-footed potoroo (''Potorous longipes'') is a small marsupial found in southeastern Australia, restricted to an area around the coastal border between New South Wales and Victoria. It was first recorded in 1967 when an adult male was caught in a dog trap in the forest southwest of Bonang, Victoria. It is classified as vulnerable. ''P. longipes'' is the largest species of '' Potorous'', resembling the long-nosed potoroo, '' Potorous tridactylus''. It is a solitary, nocturnal creature, feeding on fungi, vegetation, and small invertebrates. It differs from ''P. tridactylus'' in its larger feet and longer tail. Current threats to the species include predation by introduced feral cats and foxes, and loss of habitat from logging within its limited range. Taxonomy The scientific name of the animal commonly known as the long-footed potoroo is ''Potorous longipes''. Potoroo is the common name for all of the three other species in the genus '' Potorous'', Gilbert's potoroo, '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 colonisation 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 August 2021, 40 bettongs were released in different parts of South Australia after being raised in captivity to increase their numbers. Taxonomy Four extant specie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macropodidae
Macropodidae is a Family (biology), family of marsupials that includes kangaroos, Wallaby, 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 Australia (continent), Australian continent (the mainland and Tasmania), New Guinea and nearby islands. Description Although Propleopus, omnivorous kangaroos lived in the past, these were not members of the family Macropodidae; modern macropods are generally Herbivore, herbivorous. Some are Browsing (herbivory), browsers, but most are Grazing, grazers and are equipped with appropriately specialised teeth for cropping and grinding up fibrous plants, in particular grasses and Cyperaceae, sedges. Modern omnivorous kangaroos generally belong to a different family (for example, the Musky rat-kangaroo). In general, macropods have a broad, straight row of cutting teeth at the front of the mouth, no Canine t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marsupial
Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a relatively undeveloped state and then nurtured within a pouch on their mother's abdomen. Extant marsupials encompass many species, including Kangaroo, kangaroos, Koala, koalas, Opossum, opossums, Phalangeriformes, possums, Tasmanian devil, Tasmanian devils, Wombat, wombats, Wallaby, wallabies, and Bandicoot, bandicoots. Marsupials constitute a clade stemming from the last common ancestor of extant Metatheria, which encompasses all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to Placentalia, placentals. The evolutionary split between placentals and marsupials occurred 125-160 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous period. Presently, close to 70% of the 334 extant marsupial species are concentrated on the Australian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
