The crest-tailed mulgara (''Dasycercus cristicauda'') is a small to medium-sized Australian carnivorous marsupial and a member of the family

Dasyuridae The Dasyuridae are a family of marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, including 71 extant species divided into 17 genera. Many are small and mouse-like or shrew-like, giving some of them the name marsupial mice or marsupial shrews, but th ...

(meaning "hairy tail") which includes

quoll Quolls (; genus ''Dasyurus'') are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea. They are primarily nocturnal, and spend most of the day in a den. Of the six species of quoll, four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea. Anot ...

dunnart A dunnart (from Noongar ''donat'') is a narrow-footed marsupial the size of a European mouse, of the genus ''Sminthopsis''. Dunnarts have a largely insectivorous diet. Taxonomy The genus name ''Sminthopsis'' was published by Oldfield Thomas ...

numbats The numbat (''Myrmecobius fasciatus''), also known as the noombat or walpurti, is an insectivorous marsupial. It is diurnal and its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. The species was once widespread across southern Australia, but i ...

, the endangered

Tasmanian devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii''; palawa kani: ''purinina'') is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now con ...

and the extinct

thylacine The thylacine (; binomial name ''Thylacinus cynocephalus''), also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, was a carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmani ...

. The crest-tailed mulgara is among a group of native predatory mammals or

mesopredator A mesopredator is a predator that occupies a mid-ranking trophic level in a food web. There is no standard definition of a mesopredator, but mesopredators are usually medium-sized carnivorous or omnivorous animals, such as raccoons, foxes, or ...

s endemic to arid Australia.Pavey, C. R., Nano, C. E. M., Cooper, S. J. B., Cole, J. R., & McDonald, P. J. (2012). Habitat use, population dynamics and species identification of mulgara, Dasycercus blythi and D. cristicauda, in a zone of sympatry in central Australia. ''Australian Journal of Zoology'', 59(3), 156-169.

Description

The crest-tailed mulgara is a small to medium-sized mammal with sandy coloured fur on the upper parts leading to a darker grey on the under parts and inner limbs.Woolley, P.A. (2005). The species of ''Dasycercus'' Peters, 1875 (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae). ''Memoirs of Museum Victoria, 62''(2), 213–221. The species is strongly

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

with adult males weighing and females weighing . Head–body length of 125–230 mm and tail length is between 75–125 mm. Identification between the two species within the genus ''Dasycercus'' has proven difficult with the crest-tailed mulgara (''Dasycercus cristicauda'') often confused with the brush-tailed mulgara or ampurta ('' D. blythi''). Tail morphology is a primary identifying feature between the two species. The crest-tailed mulgara has a crest of fine black hairs along the dorsal edge of the tail creating a fin-like crest and hair length tapering towards the tip. In contrast the brush-tailed mulgara tail hair is not crested, black hair starts half way along the upper surface of the tail and dorsal hair length remains consistent. Nipple count also differs between the two species and is another distinguishing feature. The female crest-tailed mulgara has eight nipples compared to the brush-tailed mulgara who only has six.

Taxonomy

There has been taxonomic confusion within the genus ''Dasycercus'' described by Peters in 1875. Four named forms of

carnivorous marsupials A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by eating, consumption of animal tissue (biol ...

have been assigned to this genus. Kreft, 1867, first described ''Chaetocercus cristicauda'' in 1877. A second form, ''Phascogale blythi was'' described by Waite, 1904, followed by a third form, ''Phascogale hillieri'' described by Thomas, 1905. Jones 1923, described two species of mulgara ''Dasycercus'' ''cristicauda'' and ''D. hillieri''. but decades on,

William Ride William David Lindsay Ride (8 May 19266 November 2011), usually credited as W. D. L. Ride, was an Australian vertebrate zoologist and paleontologist who was the chair of the committee that wrote updated editions of the International Code of Zoo ...

’s 'A Guide to the Native Mammals of Australia' published in 1970 referred only to a single species, ''Dasycercus'' ''cristicauda,'' and in 1988 Mahoney and Ride placed all three species in the synonymy of ''D. cristicauda.'' A fourth species, ''Dasyuroides byrnei,'' described by Spencer, 1896, was included by Mahoney and Ride however a lack of consensus resulted in its exclusion to the genus ''Dasycercus''. In 1995 Woolley described two sub-species, ''D. cristicauda cristicauda'' and ''D. cristicauda hillieri,'' which were later confirmed to be two species using mitochondrial gene sequencing by Adams, Cooper and Armstrong in 2000. Woolley resolved the taxonomic and nomenclatural issues in 2005 and the species was re-named to two genetically distinct forms, ''D. cristicauda'' previously ''D. hillieri'' or the Ampurta and ''D. blythi'' previously named ''D. cristicauda'' or the Mulgara.

Distribution

The crest-tailed mulgara inhabits areas of arid Australia. It has been recorded in the southern

Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth-largest Deserts of Australia, Australian desert, with an area of . The Wangka ...

near the tri-state border and in the Tirari and Strzelecki Deserts of South Australia and the western

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in the east-central part of the Far North (South Australia), Far North region of South Australia, some 700 km (435 mi) north of Adelaide. It is the larg ...

region. Historically the species’ geographic range was much larger incorporating areas from

Ooldea Ooldea, known as Yuldea and various other names by Western Desert peoples ( Aṉangu), is a tiny settlement in South Australia. It is on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain, west of Port Augusta on the Trans-Australian Railway. Ooldea is ...

on the eastern edge of the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...

and the

Musgrave Ranges Musgrave Ranges is a mountain range in Central Australia, straddling the boundary of South Australia ( Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) and the Northern Territory ( MacDonnell Shire), extending into Western Australia. It is between the Gre ...

in South Australia, Sandringham Station in Queensland (last record in 1968) and from the

Canning Stock Route The Canning Stock Route is a track that runs from Halls Creek, Western Australia, Halls Creek in the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley region of Western Australia to Wiluna, Western Australia, Wiluna in the Mid West (Western Australia), ...

and near Rawlinna on the

in Western Australia. Owl pellet examinations showed presence of crest-tailed mulgara near the southern and south-eastern margins of the Strzelecki dunefield/sandplain, in the

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain ranges in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhab ...

and at

Mutawintji National Park The Mutawintji National Park, formerly the Mootwingee National Park, is a protected national park that is located in the Far West region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The national park is situated approximately west of Sydney and ...

in far-western New South Wales.Letnic, M., Feit, A., Mills, C., & Feit, B. (2016). The crest-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus cristicauda) in the south-eastern Strzelecki Desert. ''Australian Mammalogy, 38''(2), 241-245. Due to the levels of taxonomic uncertainty, misidentification may have led to an overestimated distribution especially when based on older records. This has created difficulties in assessing and interpreting temporal changes within its historic distribution.Woinarski, J. & Burbidge, A.A. 2016. ''Dasycercus cristicauda''. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T6266A21945813. . Downloaded on 05 June 2018

Ecology and habitat

Habitat

The crest-tailed mulgara inhabits crests and slopes of sand ridges, or around salt lakes in inland Australia. During the day it shelters in burrows which are located at the base of sandhill canegrass ('' Zygochloa paradoxa)'' clumps or Nitre bush (Nitraria billardieri) growing around the edges of salt lakes. Burrow site suitability, rainfall, food resources and the fire age of the vegetation community may be a factor influencing their distribution.

Diet

The crest-tail mulgara is an opportunistic or non-specialist carnivore, eating a range of insects,

arachnid Arachnids are arthropods in the Class (biology), class Arachnida () of the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, camel spiders, Amblypygi, wh ...

s and rodents but also includes reptiles, centipedes and small marsupials. It forages along the dune crests and flanks with forays down onto the swales.

Breeding and reproduction

The crest-tailed mulgara reaches sexual maturity in the first year. Reproduction occurs between winter and early summer raising up to eight young in a litter. Independent young are found in spring and early summer

Conservation status

The following are the federal, state and international listings for the crest-tailed mulgara. The mulgara was presumed

extirpate Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

d in New South Wales for more than a century, but was re-discovered in 2017 in

Sturt National Park The Sturt National Park is a protected national park that is located in the arid far north-western corner of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The national park is situated approximately northwest of Sydney and the nearest town is , aw ...

north-west of

Tibooburra Tibooburra (pronounced or ) is a town in the Far West, New South Wales, far northwest of New South Wales, Australia, located from the state capital, Sydney. It is most frequently visited by tourists on their way to Sturt National Park or ...

Federal Listing Status

Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act): Listed as Vulnerable.

Non-statutory Listing Status

IUCN: Listed as Near Threatened (Global Status: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species). WA: Listed as P4 (Priority Flora and Priority Fauna List (Western Australia)). NGO: Listed as Near Threatened (The Action Plan for Australian Mammals 2012).

State Listing Status

NSW: Listed as Extinct (Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016), April 2018. NT: Listed as Vulnerable (Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2000), 2012. QLD: Listed as Vulnerable (Nature Conservation Act 1992), September 2017. SA: Listed as Endangered (National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972), June 2011.

Threats

The crest-tailed mulgara is sensitive to predation by the European

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 ...

and feral cat, changes to fire regimes together with environmental degradation and habitat homogenization attributed to grazing from livestock and introduced European rabbits. During post-release of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), the crest-tailed mulgara underwent a 70-fold increase in its extent of occurrence and a 20-fold increase in its area of occupancy.Pedler, R. D., Brandle, R., Read, J. L., Southgate, R., Bird, P., & Moseby, K. E. (2016). Rabbit biocontrol and landscape‐scale recovery of threatened desert mammals. ''Conservation Biology, 30''(4), 774-782.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1877099 Dasyuromorphs Mammals of the Northern Territory Mammals of South Australia Mammals of Western Australia Mammals of New South Wales Marsupials of Australia Vulnerable fauna of Australia Mammals described in 1867 Extant Oligocene first appearances Taxa named by Gerard Krefft