The Ningbing false antechinus (''Pseudantechinus ningbing''), also known as the Ningbing pseudantechinus, is a small species of carnivorous

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 ...

found in north-western

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is locally common throughout the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region of

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 ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Taxonomy

The Ningbing false antechinus was first collected by

Harry Butler William Henry "Harry" Butler (25 March 1930 – 11 December 2015) was an Australian naturalist and environmental consultant, best known as the presenter of the popular ABC television series ''In the Wild'' from 1976 to 1981. He was a househol ...

at Ningbing, an abandoned station in the Kimberley region. It was long considered to be a form of the

fat-tailed false antechinus The fat-tailed false antechinus (''Pseudantechinus macdonnellensis''), also called the fat-tailed pseudantechinus and red-eared antechinus, is a member of the order Dasyuromorphia. It is an inhabitant of western and central Australia. Its specie ...

(''P. macdonnellensis''), but was given distinct species status by

D. J. Kitchener Darrell John Kitchener (born 1943) is a biologist who has been active in mammalian research in Western Australia and Indonesia. He is the author of over one hundred papers, published while employed as the senior research biologist at the Western ...

in 1988. Its common and species names honour the location of its discovery. The Ningbing false antechinus is a

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 ...

marsupial and is closely related to other

false antechinus The genus ''Pseudantechinus'' are members of the order Dasyuromorphia. They are often called false antechinuses, although this genus includes the sandstone dibbler, which was previously assigned to a different genus. The species of this genus ar ...

es, particularly the fat-tailed false antechinus.

Description

The Ningbing false antechinus is similar to the

(''Pseudantechinus macdonnellensis'') but the females have four and not six teats. It also has a longer tail, with long hairs at the base and the remainder slightly scaly in appearance. The behaviour of this species is little known. It mates in June and has a comparatively long gestation of 45–52 days. Young are born in July–August and are weaned by October–November.

External links

Image of the type specimen's skull

Habitat

The Ningbing false antechinus is found in the

Kimberley region of Western Australia The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, an ...

, inhabiting rocky outcrops in a wide range of vegetation types.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q137643 Dasyuromorphs Mammals of Western Australia Mammals of the Northern Territory Marsupials of Australia Mammals described in 1988 Taxa named by Darrell Kitchener