Long-tailed Dunnart
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The long-tailed dunnart (''Sminthopsis longicaudata'') is an Australian
dunnart Dunnart is a common name for species of the genus ''Sminthopsis'', narrow-footed marsupials the size of a European mouse. They have a largely insectivorous diet. Taxonomy The genus name ''Sminthopsis'' was published by Oldfield Thomas in 18 ...
that, like the
little long-tailed dunnart The Little long-tailed dunnart (''Sminthopsis dolichura'') is a dunnart that was, along with Gilbert's dunnart, described in 1984. The length from snout to tail is of which head and body are and tail long. Hind foot size is , the ear length is ...
, has a tail longer than its body. It is also one of the larger dunnarts at a length from snout to tail of 260–306 mm of which head to anus is 80–96 mm and tail 180–210 mm long. Hind foot size is 18 mm, ear length of 21 mm and with a weight of 15-20 g.


Distribution and habitat

In Western Australia it is known from 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 g ...
and eastern coast to the NE goldfields and Gibson desert ( Young Ranges) south to 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 ...
, to central
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
and western
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. Its habitat includes Acacia, rocky
scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ...
s with hummock grass and
shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
s, and tall open
shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...
and
woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...
s.


Social organisation and breeding

A nocturnal species, this
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 ...
has great agility for jumping. When breeding during October–November, it burrows a hole under logs and makes its nests out of grass. The litter is of up to 6
joeys The Australia national under-17 soccer team represents Australia in men's international under-17 soccer. The team is controlled by the governing body for Football in Australia, Football Federation Australia (FFA), which is currently a membe ...
. It is locally considered to be endangered, but the IUCN
Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...
indicates that it is of least concern.


Diet

It eats
invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s like
ants Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Creta ...
,
beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
s and
centipede Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , " foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an ...
s.


References

* *Australian National Parks & Wildlife Service - Australian Endangered Species - mammals *Australian National Parks & Wildlife Service - Resource Kit: Endangered Species


External links


Long Tailed Dunnart by MatthewAustralian Biological Resources StudyLong-tailed Dunnart Greeting CardNorthern Territory
{{Taxonbar, from=Q194127 Dasyuromorphs Mammals of Western Australia Mammals of the Northern Territory Marsupials of Australia Mammals described in 1909 Taxa named by Walter Baldwin Spencer