Myrmecobius
| Numbat | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
| Family: |
Myrmecobiidae Waterhouse, 1841 |
| Genus: | Myrmecobius |
| Species: | M. fasciatus |
| Binomial name | |
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Myrmecobius fasciatus Waterhouse, 1836 |
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| Subspecies | |
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| Numbat range (green — native, pink — reintroduced) |
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The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), also known as the banded anteater, marsupial anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial native to Western Australia and recently re-introduced to South Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, its range is now restricted to several small colonies, and it is listed as an endangered species. The numbat is an emblem of Western Australia and protected by conservation programs.
The numbat genus Myrmecobius is the sole member of the family Myrmecobiidae, one of the four families that make up the order Dasyuromorphia, the Australian marsupial carnivores.
The species is not closely related to other extant marsupials; the current arrangement in the order Dasyuromorphia places its monotypic family with the diverse and carnivorous species of Dasyuridae. A closer affinity with the extinct thylacine, contained in the same order, has been proposed. Genetic studies have shown the ancestors of the numbat diverged from other marsupials between 32 and 42 million years ago, during the late Eocene.
Two subspecies are recognized, but one of these, the rusty numbat (M. f. rufus), has been extinct since at least the 1960s, and only the nominate subspecies (M. f. fasciatus) remains alive today. As its name implies, the rusty numbat was said to have a more reddish coat than the surviving subspecies. Only a very small number of fossil specimens are known, the oldest dating back to the , and no fossils belonging to other species from the same family have yet been discovered.
The following is a phylogenetic tree based on mitochondrial genome sequences:
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Wikipedia