The white-tailed dunnart (''Sminthopsis granulipes''), also known as the ash-grey dunnart, is a

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 ...

native to

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 ...

Taxonomy

A species first named by

Gerard Krefft Johann Ludwig (Louis) Gerard Krefft (17 February 1830 – 19 February 1881), a talented artist and draughtsman, and the Curator of the Australian Museum for 13 years (1861-1874), was one of Australia's first and most influential zoologists and ...

in 1872, using a specimen obtained at Albany by the local collector

George Maxwell George Maxwell (1804–1880) was a professional collector of plants and insects in Southwest Australia. The botanical specimens he obtained were used to make formal descriptions of the region's plant species. Biography He was born in England in 18 ...

. The author assigned the name ''Podabrus albocaudatus'' with a description that was published in an Eastern States newspaper, the ''

Sydney Mail Sydney Mailmay refer to: * Sydney Mail (train service), a train service that existed between 1888 and 1972 going from Brisbane to Wallangarra, where passengers would transfer at Wallangarra for the Brisbane Limited. * The Sydney Mail, an Australi ...

''. The same specimen, the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

of the species, was described by

Ellis Troughton Ellis Le Geyt Troughton (born in Sydney on 29 April 1893; died 30 November 1974) was an Australian zoologist and mammalogist. Biography Ellis Troughton began to exercise his interest in mammals at fourteen years of age, taking a role at the Au ...

in 1932 without reference to Krefft's earlier description. Despite the precedence of Krefft's first description, later recognised as a valid and available name, the later name was in widespread use and conserved to ensure taxonomic stability; the name ''Podabrus albocaudatus'' was deemed to be an objective synonym and declared a ''nomen oblitum'' and ''Sminthopsis granulipes'' Troughton 1932 a ''nomen protectum''.

Description

A species of ''

Sminthopsis 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 ...

'' with a head and body length from 70 to 100 mm, a tail measurement of 56–68 mm and a weight which varies from 18 to 35 grams. The upperparts of the

pelage Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily #Guard hair, guard hair on top and thick #Down hair, underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as ...

are uniform in colour, a lighter shade of fawn that merges with the white ventral side. The feet and tail are pinkish white. They are distinguished by the relative tail length, which is less than body, and its greater width at the base; a fine brown stripe occurs at the top of the tail. The soles of the feet at the hind-legs of ''S. granulipes'' are mostly covered in a uniform granular texture.

Distribution and habitat

This

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 ...

occupies two separate areas 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 first is east of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in the western Goldfields area and the second is to the north of Perth between Kalbarri and Jurien Bay. Habitat consists of coastal heath and sparse to dense shrublands sometimes with mallee eucalypt.

Social organisation and breeding

Little is known of the behaviour and breeding of 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 po ...

, though it is most likely

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

. It breeds from June through August with young weaned by October.

Diet

The white-tailed dunnart mainly eats terrestrial

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

References

Sources

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q134072 Mammals of Western Australia Dasyuromorphs Marsupials of Australia Mammals described in 1932