The
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 r ...
family Peramelidae contains the extant
bandicoots. They are found throughout
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, with at least some species living in every available habitat, from rainforest to desert. Four fossil peramelids are described. One known extinct species of bandicoot, the
pig-footed bandicoot, was so different from the other species, it was recently moved into its own family.
Characteristics
Peramelids are small marsupials, ranging in size from the
mouse bandicoot, which is 15–17.5 cm long, to the
giant bandicoot, which at 39–56 cm in length and up 4.7 kg in weight, is about the size of a
rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...
. They have short limbs and tails, smallish, mouse-like ears, and a long, pointed snout.
Peramelids are
omnivorous
An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...
, with soil-dwelling invertebrates forming the major part of their diet; they also eat seeds, fruit, and fungi. Their teeth are correspondingly unspecialised, with most species having the
dental formula
Female peramelids have a
pouch that opens to the rear and contains eight teats. The maximum litter size is, therefore, eight, since marsupial young are attached to the teat during development, although two to four young per litter is a more typical number. The
gestation
Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...
period of peramelids is the shortest among mammals, at just 12.5 days, the young are
weaned around two months of age, and reach sexual maturity at just three months. This allows a given female to produce more than one litter per breeding season and gives peramelids an unusually high reproductive rate compared with other marsupials.
[
]
Classification
The listing for extant species is based on The Third edition of Wilson & Reeder's Mammal Species of the World (2005), except where th
Mammal Diversity Database
and IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
agree on a change.
* Family Peramelidae
** Subfamily Peramelinae
*** Genus '' Crash''†
**** '' Crash bandicoot''† (fossil),
*** Genus '' Isoodon'': short-nosed bandicoots
**** Golden bandicoot, ''Isoodon auratus''
**** Northern brown bandicoot, ''Isoodon macrourus''
**** Southern brown bandicoot, ''Isoodon obesulus''
*** Genus '' Perameles'': long-nosed or barred bandicoots
**** Western barred bandicoot, ''Perameles bougainville''
**** Desert bandicoot, ''Perameles eremiana''† (extinct)
**** New South Wales barred bandicoot, ''Perameles fasciata''† (extinct)
**** Eastern barred bandicoot, ''Perameles gunnii''
**** Southwestern barred bandicoot, ''Perameles myosuros''† (extinct)
**** Long-nosed bandicoot, ''Perameles nasuta''
**** Southern barred bandicoot, ''Perameles notina''† (extinct)
**** Ooldea barred bandicoot, ''Perameles papillon'')† (extinct)[Travouillon & Phillips (2018)]
"Total evidence analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of bandicoots and bilbies (Marsupialia: Peramelemorphia): Reassessment of two species and description of a new species"
''Zootaxa''. February 2018.
****'' Perameles allinghamensis''† (fossil)
****'' Perameles bowensis''† (fossil)
****'' Perameles sobbei''† (fossil)
** Subfamily Peroryctinae
*** Genus '' Peroryctes'': New Guinean long-nosed bandicoots
**** Giant bandicoot, ''Peroryctes broadbenti''
**** Raffray's bandicoot, ''Peroryctes raffrayana''
****'' cf. Peroryctes tedfordi''† (fossil)
****'' cf. Peroryctes sp.''† (fossil)
** Subfamily Echymiperinae
*** Genus '' Echymipera'': New Guinean spiny bandicoots
**** Long-nosed spiny bandicoot, ''Echymipera rufescens''
**** Clara's spiny bandicoot, ''Echymipera clara''
**** Menzies' spiny bandicoot, ''Echymipera echinista''
**** Common spiny bandicoot, ''Echymipera kalubu''
**** David's spiny bandicoot, ''Echymipera davidi''
*** Genus '' Microperoryctes'' : New Guinean mouse bandicoots
**** Mouse bandicoot, ''Microperoryctes murina''
**** Western striped bandicoot, ''Microperoryctes longicauda''
**** Arfak pygmy bandicoot, ''Microperoryctes aplini''
**** Papuan bandicoot, ''Microperoryctes papuensis''
*** Genus '' Rhynchomeles''
**** Seram bandicoot, ''Rhynchomeles prattorum''
See also
* List of mammal genera
* List of recently extinct mammals
* List of prehistoric mammals
References
Further reading
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Peramelemorphs
Mammal families
Taxa named by John Edward Gray