The brown dorcopsis (''Dorcopsis muelleri''), also known as the brown forest wallaby, is a species of

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 ...

in the family Macropodidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the lowlands of West New Guinea and the nearby

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 Gui ...

n islands in West Papua of

Misool Misool, formerly spelled Mysol (Dutch: Misoöl) or Misol, is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua, Indonesia. Its area is 2,034 km2. The highest point is 561 m and the main towns are Waigama, located ...

, Salawati, and Yapen.

Description

Five subspecies of ''Dorcopsis muelleri'' are recognised. The dorsal colour is dull brown, chocolate brown, reddish brown or fawn and the underparts are whitish, creamy-yellow or greyish. The arms are sometimes paler than the dorsal surface and the tip of the tail is devoid of hair.

Distribution and habitat

The brown dorcopsis is endemic to the western end of New Guinea and the islands to the west of this,

and Salawati and possibly also Batanta and Waigeo. Its typical habitat is swampy tropical lowland forest including areas that flood in the rainy season, and it is believed to be tolerant of secondary forest, including abandoned gardens.

Archaeology

Many bones have been found in the deposits on the floor of two caves used by hunters, the result of 26,000 years of human occupation of this area of western New Guinea. 80% of the animal bones belonged to the brown dorcopsis, known locally as "djief", and the occupants of these caves are consequently known as "djief hunters".Pasveer, J. M. (2004) ''The Djief Hunters, 26,000 Years of Rainforest Exploitation on the Bird's Head of Papua, Indonesia.'' p. 204. Modern Quaternary Research in Southeast Asia, vol. 17.

Status

The brown dorcopsis has a broad distribution. It is common in the south coastal part of its range but less common in the centre of the

Vogelkop Peninsula The Bird's Head Peninsula ( Indonesian: ''Kepala Burung'', nl, Vogelkop) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai''), is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesian provinces o ...

and overall its population seems to be stable. Much of its range is uninhabited by humans, but it is also present in areas close to human habitation. Its habitat can be affected by logging, especially on

Yapen Island Yapen (also Japan, Jobi) is an island of Papua, Indonesia. The Yapen Strait separates Yapen and the Biak Islands to the north. It is in Cenderawasih Bay off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea. To the west is Mios Num Island a ...

, and the clearing of forested land for small-scale agriculture. Although it is hunted for food, it faces no major threats, and therefore the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

lists it as being of "

Least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q209618 Macropods Mammals of Western New Guinea Mammals described in 1827 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Marsupials of New Guinea