The spectacled hare-wallaby (''Lagorchestes conspicillatus'') is a species of macropod found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

. In Australia, a small sub-population is found on Barrow Island, while the mainland type is widespread, though in decline, across northern regions of the country.

Description

A species of ''

Lagorchestes ''Lagorchestes'' is a genus of small, rabbit-like mammals commonly known as hare-wallabies. It includes four species native to Australia and New Guinea, two of which are extinct. Hare-wallabies belong to the macropod family (Macropodidae) which i ...

'', hare-wallaby are small members of the family

Macropodidae Macropodidae is a family of marsupials that includes kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons, quokkas, and several other groups. These genera are allied to the suborder Macropodiformes, containing other macropods, and ar ...

. The spectacled hare-wallaby is found across northern Australia in tropical tussock or spinifex habitats. It can be found from

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

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 t ...

. In 1997, it was discovered in the savanna country of southwest

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 ...

, in the upper

Bensbach River The Bensbach River is a river in southwestern Papua New Guinea. It is located just to the east of the Maro River in Merauke Regency, Indonesia, and just to the west of the Morehead River in Papua New Guinea. The mouth of the river, Torasi Estuar ...

area. It is a solitary, nocturnal herbivore, and is considerably larger than its relatives. It is coloured grey-brown with golden tips and an orange circle around its eye, from which it gets its name. It builds its nests among the tough vegetation. When disturbed it hops off in a zigzag manner. The young are produced singly at any time of the year and become sexually mature at about a year old.

Naming and taxonomy

The species was first described by

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, ...

, naming this hare-wallaby as ''Lagorchestes conspicillata'', and provided an illustration that was included in ''

The Mammals of Australia ''The Mammals of Australia'' is a three-volume work written and published by John Gould between 1845–63. It contains 182 illustrations by the author and its artist H. C. Richter. It was intended to be a complete survey of the novel species of m ...

'' (Volume II) as plate 59. A separate description, ''Lagorchestes leichardti'', was included in the same work as Pl. 58. This is now regarded as a subpopulation of the same species, which is sometimes described as a subspecies. Lumholtz refers to this animal as a kangaroo-rat, although that term is now the common name for species of a North American rodent genus.

Threat and status

The species was reviewed on the

Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

(2008) as having the conservation status least concern. The subspecies ''L. conspicillatus conspicillatus'' is restricted to Barrow Island, Western Australia, but was once found throughout the

Montebello Islands The Montebello Islands, also rendered as the Monte Bello Islands, are an archipelago of around 174 small islands (about 92 of which are named) lying north of Barrow Island and off the Pilbara coast of north-western Australia. The islands ...

. Predation by

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

and development on the island have led to a vulnerable status. ''L. conspicillatus leichardti'', the mainland subspecies, was once regarded as a near-threatened status. The population of the species is in decline, largely due to reduction of habitat through land clearing. Concern also exists regarding the disappearance from arid parts of its far northern range. Reintroduction to former habitats has been proposed, following the related Western Shield projects.

Fossil record

A spectacled hare-wallaby fossil was discovered in Queensland dating up to 11,000 years ago from the early

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

In Aboriginal language and culture

The

Bininj The Bininj are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Arnhem land in the Northern Territory. The sub-groups of Bininj are sometimes referred to by the various language dialects spoken in the region, that is, the group of dialects known as Bi ...

people of western

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

call this animal wularla in the

Kunwinjku language Kunwinjku is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Kunwinjku are the Bininj people, who live primarily in western Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territ ...

References

External links

''Lagorchestes conspicillatus leichhardi'' (mainland subspecies, includes photo)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q639089 Macropods Mammals of Western Australia Mammals of the Northern Territory Mammals of Queensland Marsupials of Australia Mammals described in 1842 Marsupials of New Guinea