Dasyuromorphia

Dasyuromorphia Fossil range: Late Oligocene–Recent PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
A quoll
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Infraclass: Marsupialia Superorder: Australidelphia Order: Dasyuromorphia Gill, 1872
Families
†Thylacinidae Dasyuridae Myrmecobiidae

The order Dasyuromorphia (meaning "hairy tail") comprises most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the numbat, the Tasmanian devil, and the recently extinct thylacine. In Australia, the exceptions include the omnivorous bandicoots (order Peramelemorphia) and the marsupial moles (which eat meat but are very different and are now accorded an order of their own, Notoryctemorphia). Numerous South American species of marsupials (orders Didelphimorphia, Paucituberculata, and Microbiotheria) are also carnivorous.

There are three families: one with just a single member, one with only extinct members, including the late "Tasmanian Tiger" (Thylacine - Thylacinus cynocephalus), and one, Dasyuridae, with about 70 members.

Characteristics

Unlike herbivores, which tend to become highly specialized for particular ecological niches and diversify greatly in form, carnivores tend to be broadly similar to one another, certainly on the level of gross external form. Just as northern hemisphere carnivores like cats, foxes and weasels are much more alike in structure than, for example, camels, goats, pigs and giraffes, so too are the marsupial predators constrained to retain general-purpose, look-alike forms—forms which mirror those of placental carnivores. The names given to them by early European settlers reflect this: the Thylacine was called the Tasmanian Tiger, quolls were called native cats, and so on.

The primary specialisation among marsupial predators is that of size: prior to the massive environmental changes that came about with the arrival of humans about 50,000 years ago, there were several very large carnivores, none of them members of the Dasyuromorphia and all of them now extinct. Those that survived into historical times ranged from the wolf-sized Thylacine to the tiny Long-tailed Planigale which at 4 to 6 grams is less than half the size of a mouse. Most, however, tend towards the lower end of the size scale, typically between about 15 or 20 grams and about 2 kilograms, or from the size of a domestic mouse to that of a small domestic cat.

Classification

To provide context, the table below also shows the other major branches of the Australasian marsupial tree.

• Order Microbiotheria: (1 species, the Monito del Monte of South America)
• ORDER DASYUROMORPHIA
  • Family †Thylacinidae
    • †Thylacine Thylacinus cynocephalus
  • Family Dasyuridae (72 species in 20 genera)
    • Subfamily Dasyurinae: quolls, Kowari, Mulgara, little red kaluta, dibblers, phascogales, antechinuses, pseudantechinuses, and the Tasmanian devil
    • Subfamily Sminthopsinae: dunnarts, the Kultarr, planigales and ningaui
  • Family Myrmecobiidae
    • Numbat Myrmecobius fasciatus
• Order Peramelemorphia (21 species: rainforest bandicoots, bandicoots, and bilbies)
• Order Notoryctemorphia (2 species of marsupial mole)
• Order Diprotodontia (about 137 species in 11 families, including the Koala, wombats, possums, potoroos, kangaroos, wallabies and others.)

Myrmecobiidae

• • Numbat is the common name for members of the marsupial species Myrmecobius fasciatus, a diurnal, termite-eating mammal characterized by a slender body with white stripes, narrow pointed snout, small mouth with numerous small teeth, and a long, sticky tongue. Also known as the banded anteater and walpurti, M. fasciatus is found in Western Australia. It is the only extant member of its family, Myrmecobiidae.

Numbats were formerly found across southern Australia from Western Australia across as far as northwestern New South Wales. However, the range has declined significantly since the arrival of Europeans, and the species has survived only in several remnant populations in two small patches of land in the Dryandra Woodland and the Perup Nature Reserve, both in Western Australia. In recent years, it has, however, been successfully reintroduced into a few fenced reserves, including some in South Australia (Yookamurra Sanctuary) and New South Wales (Scotia Sanctuary) (Friend and Burbidge 2008)

The numbat genus Myrmecobius is the sole extant member of the family Myrmecobiidae; one of the three families that make up the order Dasyuromorphia, the Australian marsupial carnivores (Wilson and Reeder 2005). The order Dasyuromorphia comprises most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the Tasmanian devil, and the recently extinct thylacine.

The species is not closely related to other extant marsupials; the current arrangement in the dasyuromorphia order places its monotypic family with the diverse and carnivorous species of Dasyuridae. A closer affinity with the extinct thylacine has been proposed. Genetic studies have shown that the ancestors of the numbat diverged from other marsupials between 32 and 42 million years ago, during the late Eocene (Bininda-Emonds 2007).

Today, numbats are found only in areas of eucalypt forest, but they were once more widespread in other types of semi-arid woodland, Spinifex grassland, and even in terrain dominated by sand dunes (Cooper 2011).

As a marsupial, the numbat is a non-placental mammal. However, unlike most marsupials in which the females typically have an external pouch where the newborn are nursed, numbat females have no pouch. The four mammae (milk-secreating teats) are protected, however, by a patch of crimped, golden hair and by the swelling of the surrounding abdomen and thighs during lactation (Cooper 2011).

The numbat is relatively small compared to many termite-consuming mammals, with a body length of about 17.5 to 27.5 centimeters (7-11 inches) and a tail of about 13.0 to 17 centimeters (5-6.7 inches), or roughly 30 to 45 centimeters (12-17.7 inches) in total length. The adult numbat weighs from about 280 to 550 grams (0.6-1.2 pounds) (Ellis 2003).

The numbat has a finely pointed muzzle, a small mouth, and small, round-tipped ears. There are five toes on the stout forefeet, and four toes on the hindfeet; all four feet have thick and large claws (Cooper 2011; Ellis 2003). The tail is prominent and bushy. Like many termite-eating animals, the numbat has an unusually long, narrow, tongue, coated with sticky saliva produced by large submandibular glands. The tongue can reach 10. centimeters from the mouth opening (Ellis 2003). A further adaptation to the diet is the presence of numerous ridges along the soft palate, which apparently help to scrape termites off the tongue so that they can be swallowed.

Like other mammals that eat termites or ants, the numbat has a degenerate jaw with up to 50 very small non-functional teeth, and although it is able to chew (Cooper 2011), it rarely does so, because of the soft nature of its diet. Uniquely among terrestrial mammals, there is an additional cheek tooth between the premolars and molars; it is unclear whether this represents a supernumary molar tooth or a deciduous tooth retained into adult life. As a result, although not all individuals have the same dental formula, in general, it follows the unique pattern (Cooper 2011): ${\tfrac {4.1.3.1.4}{3.1.4.1.4}}$

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• C. Groves, "Order Primates," "Order Monotremata," (and select other orders). Page(s) 23-37 in D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder, eds., Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press (2005). ISBN 0801882214.

External links

• Dasyuromorphia on Animal Diversity Web

Template:Dasyuromorphia

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