The speckled dasyure (''Neophascogale lorentzii''), also known as the long-clawed marsupial mouse, is a member of the
order Dasyuromorphia
Dasyuromorphia (, meaning "hairy tail" in Greek) is an order comprising most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the numbat, the Tasmanian devil, and the thylacine. In Australia, the exceptions include the omn ...
. It is an inhabitant of
Papua,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
. It is the
only member of the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
''Neophascogale''.
Its weight varies between ; its body length ranges from , and the tail is long. As its name suggested, its dark gray fur is speckled with long white hairs. It has short, powerful limbs with long claws on all toes, used to dig for grubs, worms, and similar prey.
References
*
External links
Image at ADW
Dasyuromorphs
Mammals of Papua New Guinea
Mammals of Western New Guinea
Mammals described in 1911
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN
Marsupials of New Guinea
{{marsupial-stub