A dunnart (from
Noongar
The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...
''donat'') is a narrow-footed
marsupial
Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...
the size of a European mouse, of the genus ''Sminthopsis''. Dunnarts have a largely
insectivorous
A robber fly eating a hoverfly
An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects.
The first vertebrate insectivores we ...
diet.
Taxonomy
The genus name ''Sminthopsis'' was published by
Oldfield Thomas
Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist.
Career
Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...
in 1887, the author noting that the name ''
Podabrus'' that had previously been used to describe the species was preoccupied as a genus of beetles.
The type species is ''
Phascogale crassicaudata'', published by
John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...
in 1844.
There are 19 species, all of them in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
or
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
:
* Genus ''Sminthopsis''
** ''S. crassicaudata'' species-group
***
Fat-tailed dunnart
The fat-tailed dunnart (''Sminthopsis crassicaudata'') is a species of mouse-like marsupial of the Dasyuridae, the family that includes the little red kaluta, quolls, and the Tasmanian devil.
Description
It has an average body length of ...
, ''
Sminthopsis crassicaudata''
** ''S. macroura'' species-group
***
Kakadu dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis bindi''
***
Carpentarian dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis butleri''
***
Julia Creek dunnart
The Julia Creek dunnart (''Sminthopsis douglasi'') is a marsupial with a buffy brown upperside and white underside. This dunnart has a body length of 100–135 mm with a tail of 60–105 mm to make a total length of 160–240 mm ...
, ''
Sminthopsis douglasi''
***
Stripe-faced dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis macroura''
***
Red-cheeked dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis virginiae''
** ''S. granulipes'' species-group
***
White-tailed dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis granulipes''
** ''S. griseoventer'' species-group
***
Grey-bellied dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis griseoventer''
** ''S. murina'' species-group
***
Kangaroo Island dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis aitkeni''
***
Chestnut dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis archeri''
***
Little long-tailed dunnart
The Little long-tailed dunnart (''Sminthopsis dolichura'') is a dunnart that was, along with Gilbert's dunnart, described in 1984. The length from snout to tail is of which head and body are and tail long. Hind foot size is , the ear length i ...
, ''
Sminthopsis dolichura''
***
Sooty dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis fuliginosus''
***
Gilbert's dunnart
Gilbert's dunnart (''Sminthopsis gilberti'') is a recently discovered dunnart, described in 1984. The length from snout to tail being of which the head and body are and the tail . The hind foot size is , the ear length is and with the weight ...
, ''
Sminthopsis gilberti''
***
White-footed dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis leucopus''
***
Slender-tailed dunnart
The slender-tailed dunnart (''Sminthopsis murina''), also known as the common dunnart in Australia, is a dasyurid marsupial. It has an average body length of 7 to 12 centimeters (2.8–4.7 in) with a tail length of 5.5 to 13 centim ...
, ''
Sminthopsis murina''
** ''S. psammophila'' species-group
***
Hairy-footed dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis hirtipes''
***
Ooldea dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis ooldea''
***
Sandhill dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis psammophila''
***
Lesser hairy-footed dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis youngsoni''
Additionally, two species are recognized by the
American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...
:
*
Froggatt's dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis froggatti''
*
Stalker's dunnart, ''
Sminthopsis stalkeri''
The American Society of Mammalogists also lists ''S. griseoventer'' as a
synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...
of ''S. fuliginosa'', and moved ''S. longicaudata'' to the genus ''
Antechinomys''.
Description
A male dunnart's
Y chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in therian mammals and other organisms. Along with the X chromosome, it is part of the XY sex-determination system, in which the Y is the sex-determining chromosome because the presence of the ...
is the smallest known mammalian Y chromosome.
Notes
References
External links
Marsupial Society's checklist
{{Taxonbar, from=Q653458
Dasyuromorphs
Marsupials of Australia
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas