The little red kaluta (''Dasykaluta rosamondae'') is a small, reddish-brown, shrew-like
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
native to dry grasslands of northwest Australia. It is active at night, feeding on insects and other small animals. The kaluta is a
marsupial
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...
and is the only member of its genus, ''Dasykaluta''. Individuals are around long and weigh from . They live for about four years in
captivity
Captivity, or being held captive, is a state wherein humans or other animals are confined to a particular space and prevented from leaving or moving freely. An example in humans is imprisonment. Prisoners of war are usually held in captivity by a ...
. Other common names include little red antechinus, russet antechinus and spinifex antechinus.
Taxonomy
''Dasykaluta rosamondae'' is 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 ...
. When it was first described by
W.D.L. Ride in 1964,
the species was placed in the genus ''
Antechinus'', however, the author noted the new species created difficulties with the arrangements previously published. In 1982
Mike Archer erected the genus ''Dasykaluta'' and assigned it as the sole species.
It has since been shown to be most closely related to ''
Parantechinus apicalis'', the dibbler.
The earliest specimen was collected in 1936 by Mr. R. M. W. Bligh near Tambourah (Marble Bar) and deposited at the
Western Australian Museum
The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''.
The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...
, its dental formula leading to a tentative diagnosis of a species of ''
Dasycercus
Mulgaras are the two small rat-sized species in the genus ''Dasycercus''. They are marsupial carnivores, closely related to the Tasmanian devil and the quolls, that live in deserts and spinifex grasslands of arid Australia. They are nocturnal, ...
'' by
Ludwig Glauert
Ludwig Glauert MBE (5 May 1879 – 1 February 1963) was a British-born Australian paleontologist, herpetologist and museum curator. He is known for work on Pleistocene mammal fossils, and as a museum curator who played an important role in na ...
. Ride examined this and a series of specimens collected by E. H. M. Ealey at Woodstock Station, also near
Marble Bar
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphosed ...
in Western Australia.
"Kaluta" is an
Aboriginal name adopted from the
Nyamal language
Nyamal is an Australian Aboriginal languages, Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Nyamal people in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, Pilbara region of Western Australia.
References
Ngayarda languages
{{ia-lang-stub ...
for this species, and this is reflected in the generic name ''Dasykaluta'', which means "hairy kaluta". The species name, ''rosamondae'', is a threefold reference to
Rosamund Clifford
Rosamund Clifford (before 1150 – ), often called "The Fair Rosamund" or "Rose of the World" (Latin: ''rosa mundi''), was a medieval English noblewoman and mistress of Henry II, King of England, who became famous in English folklore.
Life
...
, the famous mistress of
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
, who is said to have had red hair, its spinifex dominated habitat resembling "a house of wonderful working, so that no man or woman might come to her ...", alluding to a maze at
Woodstock Palace
Woodstock Palace was a royal residence in the English town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Henry I of England built a hunting lodge here and in 1129 he built of walls to create the first enclosed park, where lions and leopards were kept. The lodge b ...
where the king hid her and the place of the species discovery, Woodstock Station.
Description
The kaluta is a rufous brown colour with fairly coarse fur. In body shape, it is generally similar to the
antechinuses, although it has a shorter head and ears. It is also somewhat smaller than these animals.
The species is small and robust in form, with a shaggy appearance to the uniformly russet-brown or coppery colour at the upper parts of the body; the underparts are a paler shade of the colour above.
The head and body measurement is 90 to 105 millimetres. Ears are short and covered in fur, a little higher than the top of the head and 11–13 mm in length; the tip of the short snout is closer to the eyes than the ears.
Their tail is relatively thick and short, from 55 to 75 mm, sometimes swollen toward the base and tapers to a length not greater than two-thirds of the body length.
Kaluta has hind feet that measure 15–18 mm long and covered in fur.
The little red kaluta feeds on insects and small vertebrates. A notable habit is flicking its tail in the air as it investigates its habitat.
Male little red kalutas, like several other
dasyurid
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 ...
species, die shortly after the September breeding season, probably due to stress. The young are born after a pregnancy of around seven weeks, and are weaned when around four months old.
Habitat and behaviour
The little red kaluta is moderately common in the
Pilbara
The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...
, the west of the
Little Sandy Desert and parts of the
Carnarvon Basin
The Carnarvon Basin is a geological basin located in the north west of Western Australia which extends from the Dampier Archipelago to the Murchison bioregion, and is the main geological feature that makes up the North West Shelf. The onshore ...
in
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. The
distribution range
Species distribution —or species dispersion — is the manner in which a biological taxon is spatially arranged. The geographic limits of a particular taxon's distribution is its range, often represented as shaded areas on a map. Patterns of ...
is restricted to this subtropical environment, where they inhabit hummocks of ''
Triodia'', the dominant vegetation of spinifex grasslands.
Kaluta live and forage on the sandy soil of the region, searching for invertebrate prey amongst the dense and tough mounds of spinifex.
References
External links
Dasykaluta rosamondae (in Dutch)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q511104
Mammals described in 1964
Dasyuromorphs
Mammals of Western Australia