A dunnart (from Noongar donat[1]) is a narrow-footed marsupial the size of a European mouse, of the genus Sminthopsis. Dunnarts have a largely insectivorous diet.
| Dunnart | |
|---|---|
| |
| White-footed dunnart (Sminthopsis leucopus) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
| Family: | Dasyuridae |
| Subfamily: | Sminthopsinae |
| Tribe: | Sminthopsini |
| Genus: | Sminthopsis Thomas, 1887 |
| Type species | |
| Phascogale crassicaudata Gould, 1844
| |
| Species | |
|
23, see text | |
Taxonomy
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The genus name Sminthopsis was published by Oldfield Thomas 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.[2] The type species is Phascogale crassicaudata, published by John Gould in 1844.
There are 19 species,[note 1] all of them in Australia or New Guinea:[3]
- Genus Sminthopsis
- S. crassicaudata species-group
- S. macroura species-group
- S. granulipes species-group
- S. griseoventer species-group
- S. longicaudata species-group
- S. murina species-group
- S. psammophila species-group
Additionally, two species are recognized by the American Society of Mammalogists:
The American Society of Mammalogists also lists S. griseoventer as a synonym of S. fuliginosa,[6] and moved S. longicaudata to the genus Antechinomys.[7]
Description
editA male dunnart's Y chromosome is the smallest known mammalian Y chromosome.[8]
Notes
edit- ^ The list is based on the Third edition of Wilson & Reeder's Mammal Species of the World (2005) except where both the Mammal Diversity Database and IUCN agree on the change.
References
edit- ^ Abbott, Ian (2001). "Aboriginal names of mammal species in south-west Western Australia" (PDF). CALMScience. 3 (4): 450–451.
- ^ Divljan, Anja; Ingleby, Sandy; Parnaby, Harry (6 January 2015). "Taxonomic status of Podabrus albocaudatus Krefft, 1872 and declaration of Sminthopsis granulipes Troughton, 1932 (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) as a protected name for the White-tailed Dunnart from Western Australia". Zootaxa. 3904 (2): 283–292. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3904.2.7. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 25660785. S2CID 30027103.
- ^ "Sminthopsis longicaudata". WA Museum Collections. 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
- ^ "Sminthopsis froggatti (E. P. Ramsay, 1887)". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
- ^ "Sminthopsis stalkeri O. Thomas, 1906". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
- ^ "Sminthopsis fuliginosa (J. Gould, 1852)". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
- ^ "Antechinomys longicaudatus (W. B. Spencer, 1909)". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
- ^ Toder R.; Wakefield M.J.; Graves J.A.M. (2000). "The minimal mammalian Y chromosome - the marsupial Y as a model system". Cytogenet Cell Genet. 91 (1–4): 285–92. doi:10.1159/000056858. PMID 11173870. S2CID 30401023.