The eastern short-eared rock-wallaby or Wilkins' rock-wallaby (''Petrogale wilkinsi'') is a species of

rock-wallaby The rock-wallabies are the wallabies of the genus ''Petrogale''. Taxonomy The genus was established in 1837 by John Edward Gray in a revision of material at the British Museum of Natural History. Gray nominated his earlier description of ''Ka ...

found in the northernmost parts of the

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 ...

of Australia, and is common in the Kakadu and

Litchfield National Park Litchfield National Park, covering approximately 1500 km2, is near the township of Batchelor, 100 km south-west of Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Each year the park attracts over 260,000 visitors. Proclaimed a nati ...

s. It was thought to be a subpopulation of the short-eared rock-wallaby '' Petrogale brachyotis'' found in the

Kimberley (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 ...

, but recent genetic and morphological studies have shown it to be distinct. Wilkins' rock-wallaby is smaller, has more distinct grey/brown markings on its head and sides, and more colourful limbs than the western species.

Taxonomy

A species that emerged in results during examination of a poorly studied taxonomic complex, known as the ''brachyotis'' species group of the macropod genus ''

Petrogale The rock-wallabies are the wallabies of the genus ''Petrogale''. Taxonomy The genus was established in 1837 by John Edward Gray in a revision of material at the British Museum of Natural History. Gray nominated his earlier description of ''Ka ...

''. The description of the

cryptic species In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

was published in 2014 as part of a study of the phylogeny of the genus of rock-wallabies. The specific epithet commemorates the European explorer G. H. Wilkins, who had collected a specimen that was later assigned to the new species. Wilkins obtained his specimen in southeast Arnhem Land in 1925. Two common names have been assigned to the species, Wilkins’ rock-wallaby and the eastern short-eared rock-wallaby.

Description

A species of ''Petrogale'', a diverse and widespread genus of macropods related to kangaroos and wallabies. They superficially resemble the species '' Petrogale brachyotis'', but are darker in coloration, exhibit brighter fur at the limbs and display more distinct stripes at the head and flanks. The weight range is 2.6 to 3.5 kilograms, smaller than the western species, and discovered to have deep divergence in their mitochondrial DNA that strongly supports the separation of their ancestral lineages. The overall colour of the pelage is dark brown and grey.

Distribution and habitat

The distribution range of ''P. wilkinsi'' extends across the

Top End The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ra ...

of the

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q19597052 Macropods Mammals of the Northern Territory Marsupials of Australia Mammals described in 2014